Paul is off training Jedis today so here’s a guest post from Colin Parker!
When we bought our new van, the dealership gave us a gift that has proven valuable time and time again. An emergency survival kit. It came complete with jumper cables, flashlight (with batteries), gloves, reflective tape and a variety of other very useful things. Last week, one of my kids left a van door open. In the morning, our battery was dead and as I used the jumper cables for the umpeenth time, I was thankful again for having the kit.
As a sales rep, it is critical to have an emergency survival kit of sorts when you leave your office for a meeting with a prospect or client. I compiled a list of the top 10 things to include in your emergency sales kit.
1. Extra pens. Test them and make sure they work.
2. If your meeting will involve using your laptop, ensure your laptop battery is charged, bring the power cord and an extension cord. Ditto for any other electronics.
3. Keep an extra shirt in your car. You just never know when that coffee cup lid will fail to function properly.
4. If you do drink coffee, trust me, you’ll want breath mints or mouthwash nearby. Use them.
5. Business cards are a must. Bring many.
If you’ve been in sales for any length of time, you may already bring the above things with you. Once you sit in one or two meetings with your tie strategically placed over a coffee stain, you figure out to carry an extra shirt. But I’d like you to take your sales survival kit to a deeper level. You’ll notice I didn’t include things like “brochures and marketing materials” above, because that might give the impression that you should bring and provide every piece of collateral your crack-marketing team has produced. DON’T!
You should have stuff with you, but it should be used strategically – based upon those things you hear your prospect saying and asking during your meeting. Consider the rest of the list critical to ensure you are able to move your sale forward by providing your prospect with relevant information:
6. Video testimonials. If your prospect starts to ask questions like, “Who else has used this product?” or “Do you have any references or case studies?” having video testimonials on your laptop could be helpful.
7. Reports and data sheets. Questions that focus around the statistics for your product would indicate that you are speaking to someone who likes the facts and figures. Having professional looking, color reports that address relevant data would be handy to provide if this is your prospect.
8. Exhibits. This might be the actual product itself, or if you are in a service industry, it would be materials that make the service come alive for the prospect. It allows them to make what you are speaking about more tangible.
9. Demonstrations. If your prospect seems to wonder, “Yes, but how does it work?” being able to give a live demonstration or provide a video of the product or service in action would be just the thing to provide clarity. This is especially important if your product or service has multiple processes or steps involved. It takes the exhibit into more depth.
10. Agendas and schedules. Ideally, your prospect will be so impressed with your presentation of relevant materials (and with your clean shirt) that they will ask, “Ok, if we decide to move forward, what next?” Having an outline of the process involved for implementing your service or products is critical to provide. If you have to go back to the office and email this information, you lose momentum and possibly the sale.
Having relevant information at your fingertips is the very essence of your sales survival kit. Just like I don’t pull out my jumper cables at every stop – having what you need and knowing when to use it will take your sales to the next level.
Colin Parker is CEO of Red Giraffe Strategic Sales and Marketing. Colin’s experience spans 20+ years and includes Vice President positions with global organizations. Red Giraffe specializes in helping professional service providers differentiate themselves from the herd of competition in their marketplace. Contact Colin through www.AboveTheHerd.com
