They say that ‘love is blind’ and when two people are totally in love then they do not pay attention to one another’s faults. Often, over time, the initial passion begins to wear off and they start to notice things that annoy them – like squeezing the toothpaste from the middle of the tube or leaving their socks lying around!

The relationship between supplier and buyer often works like that. If you are faced with prospect that says they are ‘happy with their supplier’ then how do you woo them away? Just like with love, there are normally plenty of fish in the sea but that does not help if you really want THAT fish!

Happy is part of what I call the ‘warm and fuzzy’ of selling. If your prospect has that kind of relationship then it will take more than just banging on about features and benefits to win them over.

It may be a tall order for them to walk out on their existing supplier but if the relationship has gone beyond the early stages then they may be open to ‘having a fling’!

Your opportunity for this to happen is to remind them of their supplier’s faults rather than focusing their attention on what they really love about their existing supplier. The paradox is that if you were to ask what they do not like about their current supplier then they would probably claim that everything is rosy in the garden!

So the trick is to start with what they like before asking what they do not like. I would ask something like:
‘Could I ask you what you like best about your current supplier that makes you happy with them?’

Their response will give you some very important information. Make a mental note as this will be something you will need to be able to demonstrate at some point in the future to appear attractive to your buyer.

I would follow up the question with ‘What else do you like best?’ so I end up with the top 3 reasons.

Once this has been done then you can ask the question you REALLY want to ask:
‘Well that’s really good to hear, do you mind me asking….if there was one area they could improve on….what would that be?’

If they come back with ‘I cannot think of anything’ then you know you have a waiting game until the supplier inevitably messes up in some way in the future. It’s a case of keeping in touch and looking for problems the existing supplier is not solving.

However, if they come back with something they think their existing supplier could improve upon then it has highlighted a potential chink in your competition’s armour. You may want to ask a follow-up question to get them to clarify and give examples.

It may take them a while before they are ready to ‘have a fling’ but by asking these questions you will know what they will be looking for when they do.

Happy wooing!

I was asked recently to summarise all the content on this site available to members. I did not have time to list all the articles and e-books but here is a summary of the audio and video content totally free for members of this site:

VIDEO
Questioning skills for sales
Consultative selling
Increasing confidence in cold calling
Get motivated and stay motivated

AUDIO

Cold Calling:
7 Habits for highly effective cold calling – with David Festenstein
Taking the pressure out of cold calling – with Ari Galper
Successful Cold Calling – with Andy Preston

Other Lead Generation:
17 Steategies for Lead Generation Success – with Frank Furness
Leveraging the power of your network – with Andy Lopata
Generating Leads from Exhibitions – with Alan Rae
Lead generation using Ecademy – with Thomas Power
Generating Leads without cold calling – Richard White
Getting your network to sell for you – with Dave Clarke

Sales – General:
Sales on a Beermat – With Mike Southon
Making the most of sales meetings – with Craig Goldblatt
The Simple way to close a sale – With Andy Preston
Negotiating for win-win deals – with Nicole Bachmann
Creating More Time for Selling – With Richard Maybury
Dressing for Success – with Pauline Crawford
How to manage rejection – with Chris Mather
Beat procrastination and make that sale! – with Nicole Bachmann
How to develop instant rapport – with Julie French and Tony Burgess
The process of selling – Richard White
Successful Account Management – with Andrew Horder
Exloding the myths of Selling – with Grant Leboff
How to make a PERFECT sales presentation – with Dexter Moscow
Writing sales proposals that sell – with Ellis Pratt

Goal setting and self motivation;
Make sure your goals are big, fat, and hairy! – with David Hyner

Marketing:
How to build your reputation online – with Nancy Williams
Generating Leads on your doorstep – with Rosie Hatton
How to write a marketing plan that gets results – with Rod Sloane
How to write a book that attracts clients – with Mindy Gibbins-Klein
Generating Leads from Blogging and Podcasting – with Diane Corriette
How to get more bangs from your marketing buck – with Rosie Hatton
Building your online presence – with Alan Rae
The secrets of getting free PR – with Chantal Cooke

Other:
Telemarketing without tears – with Nigel Woods (re using a telemarketing agency)
Getting Help with your sales – Richard White (hiring your first sales person vs outsourcing)

Membership comes with a no-spam guarantee! I promise you will not be emailed to death and there will be no pushy upsell. I would just like to read your posts on how the information helped you feel more confident and competent at sales.

I often get asked by people how they can get prospects more excited about their products and services.

The thing to keep in mind is that emotions are contagious and unless you are excited about your products and services then how can you expect your prospects to be? Pretending is not enough. In fact most people will see through fake excitement and will just see you as being insincere and are unlikely to believe what you want to say.

It’s much easier to get sincerely excited about a product or services once you start to focus on how it will help your prospect. They will only get excited when they see how it will make a difference to them and if you can get excited about that, then your products and services will never be boring again!

Start talking to your best customers about how they have benefited from working with you. Get them to let you know how things were before they started working with you and how things have been transformed. Maybe it has had an impact in their personal life such as earned them a promotion or allowed them to get home early to see their children go to bed.

If none of that gets you excited then perhaps you should be selling something that does!

Most of us get stressed from time to time – especially when our sales activity is not going as planned. Ivor Murray from MeditationsUK has provided some tips to help us not only manage stress but kick it into touch…..

Managing stress is all about taking charge: taking charge of your thoughts, your emotions, your schedule, your environment, and the way you deal with problems.

Since everyone has a unique response to stress, there is no “one size fits all” solution to managing it. No single method works for everyone or in every situation, so experiment with different techniques and strategies. Focus on what makes you feel calm and in control. Here are some useful techniques to try.

Just say no!
Always remember that you can say “no”. Many of us take on too much – and loading ourselves with more tasks when we are already stretched can only lead to stress. Accept that there is a limit to what you can do and stick to it.

Give your to-do list a makeover
Take a good look at your “to do” list. Prioritize the tasks that are really important, put the things that aren’t essential at the bottom of the list and see if you can remove any jobs entirely. A long “to do” list – often padded out with unnecessary items – can be stressful to deal with.

Say how you feel
Don’t be afraid to communicate your feelings. If someone is acting in a way that you find irritating, tell them in a calm, dignified and considerate way. If you bottle up your hostility, the situation is unlikely to change and you will end up feeling frustrated and angry.

Give and take
Accept the need for give-and-take. If you relentlessly stick to your ground, you will end up alienating people and find it hard to reach agreement. It’s better to try find a way of compromising so that each side feels that they have achieved something.

Look at how you spend your time
Good time-management is essential. When you’re not in control of how you manage your time, it can quickly lead to feelings of being overwhelmed. Planning ahead and deciding how you’re going to allocate your time can be an important factor in reducing stress.

Work on your attitude
Take note of the Serenity Prayer. “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference”. In particular, there’s no point in getting stressed about the things you can’t change – instead change your attitude towards them.

Change how you view problems
Remember that “What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.” Everyone at some time in their life will have major problems to deal with. Think of them as challenges and an opportunity for personal growth.

Take regular exercise
It’s been clinically proven that exercising can reduce the amount of stress hormones released in the body. Make a contract with yourself to exercise for 30 minutes three or four times a week. Yoga, jogging, tennis, cycling – there are hundreds of ways to exercise. Find one you enjoy and do it !

Watch what you eat
Have a good diet. Start your day right with breakfast, and keep your energy up and your mind clear with balanced, nutritious meals throughout the day. Try to stick to healthy foods, but don’t become obsessive about what you eat.

Reduce caffeine and sugar
The temporary “highs” caffeine and sugar provide often end in with a crash in mood and energy. By reducing the amount of coffee, soft drinks, chocolate, and sugar snacks in your diet, you’ll feel more relaxed and you’ll sleep better.

Get out more!
Enjoy an active social life. A network of friends you can talk to and rely on for support can be a great way of enhancing your well-being. Connecting with people will make you feel happier, optimistic and more positive about life.

A little bit of what you fancy!
Do something you enjoy every day. Make time for leisure activities, whether it be walking in the park, playing the piano or reading.

Have a laugh!
Keep your sense of humour. This includes the ability to laugh at yourself. The act of laughing helps your body fight stress in a number of ways.

Practice meditation
One of the most effective things you can do to combat stress is to learn to meditate. Meditation is a technique which gives a unique quality of rest to mind and body. It allows stress and tiredness to be released in a natural way, resulting in greater energy and enjoyment of life. Many doctors now recommend meditation to patients suffering from stress and stress-related conditions.

Using traditional methods, however, it can take many years of difficult practice before you gain control of your mind and attain meditative states. Fortunately, there are now modern meditation techniques that enable you to shortcut the learning process and put you on a fast-track to meditation.

Meditation Machines are small, light, highly-portable machines that use light and sound to gently guide you into a deep state of relaxation or meditation. In fact, with only fifteen or twenty minutes use of a Meditation Machine, it is possible to experience the same peace and tranquility as an experienced practitioner of meditation.

As you can see from this article, there are a number of ways of managing stress and preventing it from inflicting long-term damage to your physical and mental well-being. Hopefully, you can take some of these ideas and use them to create a healthier and happier life.

Ivor Murray is the MD of MeditationsUK, an innovative company that sells Meditation Machines – small, portable machines that use natural light and sound to gently guide you into calm, relaxing states of mind and body.

For more information about managing stress using Meditation Machines visit www.MeditationsUK.com