sales

Whatever job position you hold, we are always learning valuable lessons, lessons that we can apply to not only areas of our professional lives but personal lives too. A salesperson is in a unique position. Whilst essentially being on the front line and client facing you have not only has to be a shrewd negotiator but a good listener too. Whilst these are valuable traits, what else can be learned whilst working in sales? 1). It’s essential to be yourself I’m sure you’ve heard i...

It's a trick most tourists learn after a while - the realisation that the salesperson you're dealing with will almost inevitably call you back with an improved offer if you show that you're prepared to walk away from negotiations. It's a technique that even President Trump has recently said he might use in his meeting with the North Koreans - but whether that proves to be as effective as it is when you're haggling over a handbag remains to be seen. So, walking away is a negotiating technique th...

Over the years, how many great sales people have you been lucky enough to work with? Which team leaders did you find inspiring - and which ones not so? Here at Big Motoring World we're proud to say that we've had - and still have - some fantastic sales professionals working for us and leading our teams. So what do sales people need from these leaders? They need great coaches It's simply the single most important thing that the very best leaders of sales teams do - they train and develop t...

  We've probably all been there before in job interviews - when the interviewer suddenly steps away from the standard script and asks you a question out of left field that really puts you on the spot. It's an uncomfortable - but often liberating - experience. And here at Big Motoring World we'd suggest that it is a feeling that it can be useful to try and replicate in your sales prospects. Be memorable Why? Because by putting them in a situation they might not be expecting, and by asking t...

Thanks to the way that consumers - and businesses - now use technology to buy, sell and search for products and services, there is a huge amount of customer data now available - and plenty of specialist companies offering to help you to analyse it and apply it to your business. But why bother? Well, here at Big Motoring World we'd suggest that it boils down to one simple headline: it's about making better decisions. Here's a quick breakdown of why unlocking the power of data can transform the wa...

First things first - if the content you create to support your products and services isn't compelling, it's not going to help you to sell. Every single word you write - whether it's on marketing materials, emails, blogs or tweets - needs to work for its living. So what are Big Motoring World's tips to make sure your writing is doing just that? Whatever you write needs to make people want to act Your writing needs to be clear and concise, yes, but the most important thing it must do is to ...

It happens to us all - yes, even sometimes here at Big Motoring World. Occasionally, people just say 'no' - prospects who we were pinning our hopes of a sale on, dash those hopes with a single word. It can be disheartening and tough to take - especially if you've been working on converting them for a long time. But is there a better way to handle this kind of rejection, and to try to turn a negative into a positive? Here at Big Motoring World we think there is. Work out what you did wrong, ...

What objectives will you set yourself in the coming 12 months? We're not talking sales targets here - but rather the kind of personal challenges that many of us give ourselves every new year. Here at Big Motoring World we know how hard it can be to stick to resolutions sometimes - but it's always a useful exercise to try, and these particular ones could have a fundamentally positive effect on your sales performance. So, just as many people detox every January, we're recommending a sales detox p...

It's a question that gets right to the heart of the whole sales process - what is the real value of your product? It might seem like an incredibly obvious question too – the answer is that it does x, y and z, and it's better than anything else on the market at doing it. But thinking carefully about what that actually means is a really useful process to go through - not least because it helps to put you inside the heads of your prospective customers and on the path towards better understan...

We've talked before here about whether salespeople are born or made, and to what extent the essential skills you need to be an effective seller are innate. And while it seems clear that there are some people who are just born to sell (we've got more than a few of them here at Big Motoring World!), we also know that there are plenty of people out there who find themselves having to sell, when frankly they don't really feel comfortable doing it. We're thinking here of people who maybe run their o...

There's no place in business for emotion, right? Well, here at Big Motoring World we couldn't disagree more - managing and understanding how emotions work is absolutely central to being an effective business person. This is particularly true in sales, where so much of the success of what we do is founded on our relationships with other people - how we connect with them, listen to them, empathise with their problems, and build mutual trust. We are emotional creatures, and so are the people we de...

Here at Big Motoring World, it's a question we've debated many times - is it really possible to train absolutely anyone to become a great sales person? To what extent are the skills you require to sell learned, and how much are they simply innate - essentially, talents that you're born with? This is an industry where personality is so crucial - and your ability to make people like you enough to want to buy from you so fundamentally important - that it's critical to understand the extent to which...

What’s your story? How do you explain how your product or service will improve your customers’ lives? One of the most powerful ways to do this is with a powerful sales narrative - a story that goes beyond your usual pitch and engages your prospects with a compelling argument. Explain why people need to change If you’re a parent, you may know how difficult changing the status quo can be sometimes. Encouraging a child to move from one state (for example sitting and playing) to an...

Making sales calls is an art. They are something that all of us as salespeople will have to do at some point in our careers, but they can be devastatingly easy to get wrong. Here are the Big Motoring World tips for getting that crucial call right. Be prepared There really is no excuse for any sales call now to be completely ‘cold’ - there are so many ways to reach people to prepare the ground first - from a quick email to an InMail message on LinkedIn - that they should be primed for...

It’s one of the oldest truths in the sales business (coming in just after ‘you should always sell benefits, not features’): people buy from people they like. It’s something that we’ve seen proven time and time again here at Big Motoring World - having a nice personality matters, because it allows you to build strong, lasting relationships with prospective customers, and ultimately sell to them successfully. Our very best sales people are likeable, approachable peopl...

You may have come across people talking about ‘game theory’ before – it’s a set of ideas that have been around since at least the 1940s. The basic concept is this: that is possible to determine the outcomes of certain situations and interactions simply by looking at the mathematical models that underpin them. Plan your moves As sales professionals, we’re in the business of personal interactions – it is the bread and butter of pretty much everything we do. The ...

Remarkably, keeping things simple is a skill that seems in fairly short supply in the business world. Whether it’s people falling prey to the temptation to use too much jargon, or the over complication of processes or procedures, we seem to be addicted to complexity. Maybe it’s just a matter of self-justification - the more complicated you can make your role or the service you provide sound, the more some people think they can claim to be an expert. Or, perhaps  in the end maki...

Sales people work alone, right? It’s all about an individual’s sales skills, about building personal relationships and hitting your targets. Well, not quite. Here at Big Motoring World we know that creating a successful sales team - one that truly works, and that achieves the goals that the business sets it - is about a bit more than that. So how do you make yourself an indispensable part of your sales team? Here are a few tips. Share Open communication with the rest of your sales co...

So, you’ve closed the deal, shaken hands and everyone is happy. What next? One of the key differences between companies that actually grow, and those that simply stand still, is what happens after a sale. Here at Big Motoring World, the after sales care we give is absolutely critical to retaining customers and giving them the great service we think they deserve. Here are a few tips. Be personal, be available It’s more than likely that your new customer finally decided to buy from you...

Sometimes, to get ahead in any industry, it helps to look beyond the borders of your own specialism. Looking at how successful companies in different sectors treat their customers can help you to develop new strategies and techniques within your own - so here at Big Motoring World we thought it might be useful to share just a few tips that we’ve picked in the world of sales beyond motoring. Creating brand loyalty Starbucks and Apple are great examples of this - companies who are great...