Oh, I’m talking about YOU doing an annual review  of your customer and prospect database, and then doing reviews with your customers and prospects.

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Anyway I’ll try not to waffle too much. Basically I have been in field sales for around 6 months now but I have always wanted to get into Media Sales. I have applied for a job with a publishing company and have got through the first three rounds using my natural sales ability and any skills I have learned in the field. However I have now been told I will be given a scenario and will have 15 minutes to think of a pitch and I have no idea what I am going to do.

I have no experience in either media or telesales but I really want this job. I was wondering if anyone could help. Here is an example of a concept previously used by the company.

Sales scenario for final stage interview

You are responsible for looking after the college magazine in Falmouth called “Substance”. This magazine is read by 15000 students in Falmouth & Truro.

It is B5 full colour glossy and comes out 6 times a year. Make the prices up for full page and half page and make a sales pitch to me with the outcome being a sale.

I am a night club owner in Falmouth and have just bought the club called “Elegance” and my name is Craig.

As a guide try to use open questions to find a need then confirm the need and then close the sale.

Remember this is supposed to be a phone conversation so you can use notes as prompters not as a script as the idea is to show us you can think on your feet.

If anyone could give me any advice or pointers or even help me with the kind of questions I should be asking I would be most grateful.

Many thanks.

1) My husband is the store manager for a perfume shop. The owner wants me to work there as a sales associate first, making $10 an hour and then promote me to the marketing manager, $15 an hour+ bonus because I have 7 years of marketing experience and I am studying MBA marketing.

2) I have a job offer from a website design/ social media marketing company who wants me to sell for them over the phone in a call center. They pay $8 an hour, work hours 7:30am to 2 pm, 5 days a week, and they say you can make $300-$1000 per week in commission if you can sell over the phone.

Which one should I pick?

I have no experience in either media or telesales but I really want this job. I was wondering if anyone could help. Here is an example of a concept previously used by the company.

Sales scenario for final stage interview

You are responsible for looking after the college magazine in Falmouth called “Substance”. This magazine is read by 15000 students in Falmouth & Truro.

It is B5 full colour glossy and comes out 6 times a year. Make the prices up for full page and half page and make a sales pitch to me with the outcome being a sale.

I am a night club owner in Falmouth and have just bought the club called “Elegance” and my name is Craig.

As a guide try to use open questions to find a need then confirm the need and then close the sale.

Remember this is supposed to be a phone conversation so you can use notes as prompters not as a script as the idea is to show us you can think on your feet.

If anyone could give me any advice or pointers or even help me with the kind of questions I should be asking I would be most grateful.

Many thanks.

"What is the best, quickest way to increase sales by phone?"

At first glance I dismissed this as one of the many questions I often get from people who think there is a simple, easy answer to doing well in sales.

But after pondering this, there is a relatively simple answer:

Sell more to people at the very moment they are buying.

For more how-to info on this, I contacted my friend and colleague, Jim Domanski, the Add-On Selling Guru, He’s author of the book, "Add-On Selling: How to Squeeze Every Last Ounce of Sales Potential From Your Calls."

How to Grab More Profits Today With Add-On Selling
By Jim Domanski

With today’s economy it is especially important to leverage every single solitary customer contact you make. You need to know how to maximize your contacts to their fullest. In effect, you need to "do more with less."

I am talking about using Add-on Selling (AOS).

AOS is simple. As the name implies, it means adding something onto to a call that you make (or take) from a customer or prospect in order to maximize the moment. It is designed to get something more from your contact than you usually do.

For instance, cross selling or up selling are two huge applications that are often dismissed and ignored. But the real neat thing is that AOS can be used whether or not you get a sale.

For example you can easily use the technique with a prospect who says no to your sale by asking for a referral or by gathering an important piece of market information.

Let’s go through the process.

The Four-Step Process

Step 1: Complete your Primary Objective.

The first step is easy. Whether it is an incoming or outgoing call, complete your initial objective first. It might be an order or an inquiry. It might be a prospecting call. It might be a contact with a long term customer. Whatever or whoever, complete your primary objective first.

Step 2: Bridge to the Add-On.

Once you have completed your primary objective, the next step is to let your customer or prospect know that you are moving onto another item. You do this with a technique called a "bridge." Here are some patently simple examples,

"Jenny, thank you for your order. By the way . . ."

"By the way Mr. Potter, did you know . . ."

"I am not certain if you know this, Ms. Anderson, but . . ."

Step 3: Provide your Add-on and Explanation.

The most classic add-on is a cross sell. A cross sell is when you add a related product to the one that is being purchased:

"Thank you for your order, Tim. By the way, did you know that we have CD storages cases in the slimmer versions, on sale this week for 20% off per case."

Here’s another example with an up sell. An up sell is when you sell more of the same product:

"LaTanya, did you know that you get a price break if you order four or more of our safety posters. You are only one poster away from four and by up grading you can save 15% on your order for the year, and shipping and handling is free!"

Here’s a third example, for a referral. A referral, of course, is when you ask for the name of someone who might have an interest in your product or service:

"Mr. Jackson, I want to thank you for your time again. By the way, while I have you, can you give me the names of your counterparts in South Bend and Gainsville because I believe they could also benefit from the saving ?"

There is one critical element to making the add-on work as effectively as possible. You need to provide a simple explanation for the add-on and give or imply a benefit.

This is where most reps falter when attempting an add-on selling. For instance, they will say:

"Did you know we have CD cases on special this week?"

It’s not so much that this statement is bad, rather it could be better. By explaining the special and the amount to be saved, the customer gets a full explanation and understanding in order to make a decision.

The same applies to the up sell and referral examples as well. Providing an explanation gives the client an opportunity to assess your offer quickly and efficiently.

The add-on comes at the end of the conversation after the primary objective has been met. From the client’s perspective, the call is almost completed and so too is their time and tolerance. The add-on must be brief and to the point. It cannot raise questions. The add-on should be easy to evaluate and easy for the client to say ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ Your add-on should be prepared ahead of time, and must have an explanation that is benefit oriented.

Step 4: Close the Add-On.
 
In both the cross sell and up sell examples above, the rep needs to ask for the sale to bring closure to the add-on. For example:

"Would you like a case?"

"Can I add that to your order?"

These closes get the client to take action one way or the other. This saves you time and it saves your client time. The worst that they can say is no. And that’s no big deal. In the referral example, the referral is presented as a question. There is an explanation and an implied benefit molded into the question. Consequently, the customer must respond.

Summary
AOS is a powerful way to squeeze and wring every ounce of potential from the calls you make or take. It doesn’t have to work all the time. That is not the point. If only ten or twenty percent respond to you add-on, what would that be worth to you?

(Jim Domanski is President of Teleconcepts Consulting, a telemarketing consulting and training firm. Contact him at 35 VanStone, Kanata, Ontario, Canada. 613-591-1998. His book "Add-On Selling" is available right now for download, and you can get the hardcopy at http://www.businessbyphone.com/add-on.htm)

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Do you think if they offer me, I should get it?

I feel pretty bad because I studied something that is not useful.

One disgruntled and jealous rep, in another region, who had been there for a few years, asked the manager what the new rep was doing that got such great results.

"He’s going to the top level of the companies we’re selling to, and selling bigger deals."

The rep responded, "How does he sell to those people? I always get stalled at the mid-management level?"

The manager replied, "He doesn’t know that it is even possible to talk to mid-managers and sell our product. We told him that the only people he can talk to are those at the highest level, and that bigger deals are all that we sell."

Hmmm. Pretty simple point I have for you, but one that is time-tested:

All that limits us is ourselves, and thinking and acting BIG gets BIG results

Here are some thoughts along those lines:

It takes just as much energy to ask for a large order as it does a small one. As long as you’re asking anyway, why not ask LARGE?

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When you EXPECT to sell large, that notion becomes part of you; your thoughts, your actions, and your results.

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Even when you don’t get the large sale or project you ask for, you will probably end with something more than you would have gotten otherwise if you had thought small.

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The pros with the highest average orders, and the most overall sales are typically the ones who shoot for–and ask for–the biggest sales. The math works on this.

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Where you target in the organization usually determines the size of the sale you’re able to get. Where are you calling? Aim high.

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Percy Ross wrote a syndicated newspaper column, "Thanks a Million," where he gave away millions of dollars to people who wrote in, and ASKED in the right way. In his now out-of-print book, "Ask for the Moon–and Get It!" he also suggested asking large: "Take a chance; ask for something big! Most of us have a tendency to shy away from the things we want the most. What is it your heart desires? What is it you want the most? Who could give it to you or make it come true? Go ahead, ASK THEM!"

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John F. Kennedy said that "Only those who dare to fail greatly will succeed greatly." He practiced what he preached; he asked for the moon, got it approved by Congress, and received commitment from the thousands of people who ultimately made it happen in 1969.

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