This was my training manual from the Boiler Room known as "The Art Exchange". It's 23 pages long and I'm typing it by hand so be patient.
The Tower and you
You have just opened a booklet we call The Tower, which may end up being one of the most valuable things you have ever done for yourself, your family, and your personal business growth. You are about to begin an entirely new career, even if you aren't new to selling or the world of art. Even so, chances are that this whole experience is new for you. With newness comes uncertainty and even stress. The Tower is designed to help reduce uncertainty and stress by providing you a framework for success. In this framework, we will discuss how you can achieve professional success by comparing the way you should perform your job as a salesman to how you might get to the top of a tower.
There are many possible towers of success in the world. Each time you start a new career, it's like entering a new tower. Entering a new building brings a host of challenges, frustrations, and opportunities. The Tower is designed to help you reach the penthouse suite and make your climb up the stairs as smooth and simple as possible.
On every climb, there are obstacles of one kind or another: elevators that don't work, hallways closed by construction, fire drill's, and other things that simply get in the way. How well you navigate over, under, and around obstacles depends mainly on your knowledge of the floor plan, confidence, and the condition of your shoes. The decisions you make in navigating the tower will determine the success you find at the top and how fast you get there.
In the profession of sales, we often say that you can write your own check. That is another way of saying that you have the power to be successful if you wish. If you learn and apply the pronciples in The Tower every day, you will be assured of developing the confidence and skills necessary to get to the top! As you read from the Tower, observe how simple it is. Do not over complicate selling things.
You'll find there are a lot of people here who will help you climb to the top. We're pleased that you have chosen Art-Exchange.com as a partner in your pursuit of success and we welcome you to the team!
Personal & Professional Growth
Many salespeople hope to become managers. Many managers wish they were making the same kind of money as professional salespeople, we will provide you with the training to grow to your fullest potential and earn a handsome income while doing so.
What you will learn
Most people sell something every day. What that means is that everyone can sell. Every time you present an idea or enter into a discussion, debate, or argument, you are engaging in the art of persuasion. The Tower will give you the strategies and the guidelines you will need to become effective in the art of persuasion.
Page 3 of 23
In The Tower, you will learn:
1. How to establish a quick rapport with your prospect(victim)
2. How to give an effective presentation by building value.
3. How to use several creative closes.
4. How to overcome objections.
5. How to overcome put-offs
6. How to become a student of selling for a life of learning and success.
By learning the tools in The Tower, you will be able to face your prospects with enthusiasm and confidence. As you apply these techniques every day, over a short period of time, you'll be convinced that this is the only way to get to the top. The Tower is written for people who want to become true professionals, to improve their selling skills, and to become real champions.
Selling is the highest-paid hard work and the lowest paid easy work and the best part of that is the choice is yours... all yours. What you will earn in your selling career is entirely up to you, and what anyone else thinks about what you should and should not get is not going to make much difference. The only thing that really matters is what you do for yourself.
Perhaps the most important concept for you to understand from The Tower is that the skills, the knowledge, and the drive within you are all you need to make it to the top. You can grow in direct proportion to your competence. To earn more and develop more competence, study The Tower, rehearse it's content, and practice the skills at every opportunity. To be successful in sales, you need only do what successful sales people do and we have written it down here in The Tower for you.
Repetition is the key to learning. Repeat anything often enough and it will become a part of you. Effective repetition means that you must read your training material, if you say it out loud, you must cut it apart, and you must put it back together in your own words to fit your own personality.
Skills and knowledge do not wear out with use. Real Learning means going beyond just reading. You must practice and apply your knowledge and skills daily. Selling is not a spectator sport: you can't win if you don't play!
It's easy to convince yourself that you already know the material in The Tower but every sales professional knows that the fundamentals are exclusive and that we must always return to them. Don't limit your own earning potential by allowing yourself to forget or to stop practicing the fundamentals. Make a commitment to yourself to to study The Tower at every opportunity. Every time you review The Tower, you'll see things differently and discover new things that were in front of you the whole time you just weren't ready before.
Page 4 of 23
STANDING ON THE SIDEWALK:
PLANNING AND GOAL SETTING
Before there were elevators in buildings, there were only stairs. In order to get to the top, you had to go through the doors, get past security, climb all the stairs, and open the door to the penthouse suite. In every sale, there are four phases: opening, rapport building, presenting and closing. However, before you enter the building, you must stand outside on the sidewalk and think - the planning phase.
Planning & Preparation:
Before you start your day, you must have a plan so you know what you are going to do and how you are going to do it. This is a floor plan of the tower of success: every day you should have a good plan to work, and every day you should work on that plan.
* Look Successful: Pay attention to the details of how you look from the clothes you wear to the expression on your face. These things affect how you feel and felling confident enables you to be positive, a key element of successful selling. Whether you are making first contact with a prospect or talking to an existing customer about repeat business, your first impression is critical, so do everything you can to make it count!
* Great Attitude: How far can you get with a great attitude? A lot farther than you can being grumpy. Throw yourself into the art community. Enjoy them and allow them to enjoy you. Leave excess baggage at home and come to work focused and smiling on the inside. We perform Great services: we help make dreams come true! Get Excited!
* Confidence: We perform great services. It will be through a great attitude and confidence that this is effectively communicated.
* Planning Sales:
Weekly: You must come into the week with two number in your head: How many appointments will you set and how much revenue will you drive? Those weekly numbers must be broken down into daily numbers each day so you know what you must accomplish to stay on track.
Daily: To prepare for the day, your calender and sales completion forms should be ready to go.
If you plan on making 10 appointments, you should alot slots on your calender already made even if you don't know whose names go in them.
If you plan on closing five sales, five charge slips forms should be at your disposal with your name on them.
Page 5 of 23
* Using the DAILY ACTIVITY RULE: Using the 10% rule of sales, you should be honest with yourself and acknowledge that if you want to close 1 deal each day, you will need to make a sales presentation to 10 prospects per day. That means you need to have 10 appointments set for each day! Remember: prospects and suspects are not the same thing! Don't try to convince yourself that talking to 10 people is the same as talking to 10 prospects. The difference will become apparent as we climb to the top! You can expect to make 100 dials to make 10 appointments. Staying on the phone is key to your own success.
Page 6 of 23
ENTERING THE BUILDING: OPENING
"Smile and the whole world smiles with you!" This song should be in your head every time you introduce yourself. A sales professional who smiles is considered a bearer of good news. The "frowner" might be the tax collector. You might think that smiling does not matter on the phone sales but studies show that prospects can often tell if you are smiling or not! Your prospect will be glad to "see" a smiling face.
How to Win Prospects' Time In The Opening
The first part of your sale begins with effectively getting the attention of the people you call. They weren't expecting to get a sales call and they certainly weren't hoping for one, either. Let your personality shine through to make an immediate connection.
Personality: People will not slow down their busy day for you if you are not more fun or interesting than what they are already doing. We need to show a positive personality that the customer can relate to: Be expressive, nice, helpful, charming, sincere, caring, and humorous. Relate well to people and show energy, and any of your own personal characteristics that will add to your success.
TALKING TO THE SECURITY GUARDS: RAPPORT BUILDING
Rapport (noun) - relationship, especially one of mutual trust or emotional affinity.
Affinity (noun) - a natural attraction, liking, or feeling of kinship.
How to win Prospects' Time During Rapport Building
To succeed in transitioning through the sales process, you must continue to maintain and deserve the attention of the people you call. They weren't expecting to get a sales call and they certainly weren't hoping for one, either. There are different techniques that you can use to win them over:
Give Unto Others and They Will Give Unto You:
Whether it is a nice gesture or providing help with unrelated problems, people always feel the need to respond to a gift with a gift. If you take the time to give them something, they will undoubtedly give back to you. That is, they will give you their ear for 20 seconds, which is all the time you need to sell them on yourself so they will give attention to our products and services. It is much easier to give unto others than you might think at first think.
> Be polite and respectful. It's almost a lost art in the modern world. Just don't end up being so rigid that you are not seen as friendly.
> We provide services to others. Therefore, our conversations are really all about them! Take a moment to try understand and appreciate your prospects' work before you talk to them; then ask them about their work.
> Go out of your way to get feedback and reactions to your artists' work from shows. Call your clients and tell them about it.
Page 7 of 23
Patience: Let the artist talk. Listen to what they say. Don't try to close big deals on small conversations. Except and accept that most deals will not be closed in fewer than 2 conversations.
After the prospect has agreed to interrupt their busy day and stay on the phone with you or, after you re-open a discussion on a call back, there are some major things you want to accomplish in the next phase of the conversation. Building rapport with your prospects will make them relax and put them at ease.
Key: people invest in a relationship by talking, not by listening. In the beginning, you will care more about your relationship with your prospect than they care about their relationship with you. Therefore, you want them to do the talking and you to do the listening.
* "I've seen some of your oil paints and enjoyed them. What do you like best about working with oils?"
* "When and how did you first realize that you were an artist?"
* "I was looking at some of your works and `Handsome Sales Trainer' really caught my eye".
* What was your inspiration for that piece?
* I'm a bit of an art baffoon. Sort of an "I know what I like" person but I'm not schooled as deaaply as I'd like in the fine arts. Tell me about your interpretation of that piece.
* The subject is interesting to me all by itself but tell me: why that pigeon on that park bench that day? What was your inspiration?
Rapport building is critical. Never take a "short cut" or allow yourself to believe that you don't need to do this. Prospects won't buy from you if they don't trust you. If you execute rapport building properly, you will establish a a good foundation for a relationship and the prospect (victim) will feel comfortable with you. If you meet this objective, it will lure the customer into listening to your presentation with the right frame of mind. As a result, the close should be easy.
But, when rapport building is done poorly or not done at all, your presentation and closing phases become difficult. The prospect will offer constant resistance, creating the risk of seeming to argue. Even worse, your prospect may present you with complete indifference and simply waiting for a break in the conversation to end the call. Poor rapport building significantly harms your ability to close deals successfully.
Try not to lose track of time. As critical as rapport building is, your conversation must drive towards creating an opportunity. At the same time, you must love the one you're with: don't throw away opportunities by pressing on to business before trust has been established.
Page 8 of 23
CLIMBING THE STAIRS: PRESENTATION
Once you have opened a conversation and built rapport effectively, you can move your focus toward the real work of selling: climbing the stairs. Everything you have done up to this point has been simply to get this opportunity! This change of focus is called "transition" because you are changing over from social aspects of your conversation to the business aspects, the real effort of selling. You must learn or develope phrases that will allow you to transition into your presentation smoothly. For example:
"Mr.Artist, it sounds like your life's work is ready for the next step. Have you heard about our ... You're going to love this..."
"Trying to get into a gallery can be very frustrating. Let me show you how we can end that frustration and get your work out on an international stage."
"Let me tell you how I can partner with you...this is how it works..."
Presentation Flow: Presenting your Service
You have convinced the prospect to talk to you. Now you must offer a presentation that is simple yet it must also build value in order to convince your prospect to buy. Information from rapport building must be rapidly sorted in your head so that you can target the right service for the prospect's careers level, budget, and familiarity with the Company.
Building Value - Simply The best way to sell and buy Art!
Savings:
* Listings for Live
* Professional sales staff to represent your works at shows.
* Art-Exchange.Com charges less in commission for the sale of original works of art and pays more in royalties than any other organization in the art world we know of.
Credibility:
* This show is brought to the buying public by Art-Exchange.Com. You're really going to like it's value and flexibility.
* Art-Exchange.com's relationship with Timothy's Fine Art gives you access to TFA's exclusive clientele and additional art selling professionals.
* Art-Exchange.com represents over 100,000 works of art for over 10,000 artists.
* Timothy's Fine Art sold over 30,000 prints last year.
* Art-Exchange's 2008 New York Art Expo Booth was the largest at the show, 13 times the size of the next competitor.
Quality:
You will experience:
* Timothy's Fine Art's designer's will custom frame originals physically for ADP participants.
* Personal Control over listings.
* Both Juried and Open opportunities for art promotion.
Page 9 of 23
Determine if you should learn your own pitch initially by following the presentation flow or by following a script. Truly skilled professional salespeople can sometimes handle the sales process outlined in the presentation flow once they have studied our product and service offerings. In the beginning, most people will have difficulty organizing or staying focused and will benefit from memorizing a scripted pitch.
Scripts have a lot of sales techique built into them and most people benefit from that. Often, when veteran salespeople are struggling, they will go back to a script to get all that technique back into their game plan. Remember? It's very easy to stray too far from the fundamentals. Good scripts have the presentation flow built into them.
Caution: A script is really just an outline for a conversation you intend to have. It's instructive and valuable to memorize one but never get caught reading a script at someone. That's very different from having a conversation with someone. Besides, even if you have a script, your prospect does not, so you must be ready and will to depart from the script and have a normal conversation while, at the same time, try to get back to the next phase of your conversation!
Presentation Flow
* Open: Get customer to smile, guard comes down: Enter the building
* Build Rapport: Build Trust: Talk to security
* Pitch: Use the information from talking to security to connect our services with their needs. Use thr power of earn and deserve to help them believe in themselves: Climb the stairs
* Close: Assumes it! Enter the penthouse suite
Elements of a Good Scripted Pitch
* Assumptive Opening - Avoid "Is this Ms.Artist" and other invitations to play 20 questions.
> "Hi Ms.Artist, my name is Sales Trainer with Art-Exchange and I'm calling about promoting your works."
* Build Rapport - It's all about them to build trust with you.
> "Ms.Artist I've seen your work"
"What did you think of it?"
"I liked it, that's why I'm calling you. I think we can help you get some of the recognition you deserve. Would you mind telling me a little bit about your inspiration for your piece entitled, 'Portrait pf an Awesome Sales Trainer'?"
* Pitch- Use your knowledge of your prospect gained in rapport building to select the right service offering.
> "Ms.Artist, I think a good step for you would be a listing package to get some of your works in front of buyers and gallery owners."
> "Ms Artist, it's clear to me that you are ready for the New York Art Expo, the largest art show of it's kind anywhere."
Page 10 of 23
> "Ms.Artist, I know you've been to an expo before and I'd like to take you again but I think it's time for us to talk about exposing your works to corporate buyers and the potential for publication."
> "Ms.Artist, I feel very strongly that you are ready for an Expo showing but I understand that's not financially feasible for you at this time. Let's start with an exchange listing package and see if we can't help a buyer identify you to fund your next break."
Assumptive Closing - Don't ask for the money, simply put your hand out and allow them to put it in your hand.
> "Obviously we agree that this is an important opportunity for you. I am available tomorrow at 10:00 am and 2:00 pm. Which works best for you?"
> "Well it seems we agree this is perfect for you. We take Visa and Mastercard, what works best for you?"
> The best scripts don't say anything after an assumptive close and neither do the best salespeople! There's nothing left to explain if you've timed your close properly. Wait for the credit card numbers or for their next question.
Page 11 of 23
ENTERING THE PENTHOUSE SUITE: CLOSING
After entering the building (opening) and talking to security (building rapport), you have created a need for and explained your service offering as you climbed the stairs (Presentation). The next phase is the most exciting part, the close! Closing is the easiest part but often made complicated by strange descriptions of what closing really is. Before we go any further read the next sentence to your self ten times and believe it each time. Closing is simply the act of asking for the money to complete the deal. Often, closing a sale comes after many smaller closes along the way.
For some reason, people often feel a great need to make closing into something very complicated. It's not complicated. However, let's acknowledge that it can be hard for some people at the beginning of their sales career. This difficulty comes from two different things. First, asking for money is not a normal part of our social competency. Most people can carry on a conversation but not the type that end with a variation of, "what are the numbers on your credit card?" Also, everything before the close can be a fun experience but when the rubber hits the road and we ask for money, we can be rejected, which can be difficult at first.
The Tower and you
You have just opened a booklet we call The Tower, which may end up being one of the most valuable things you have ever done for yourself, your family, and your personal business growth. You are about to begin an entirely new career, even if you aren't new to selling or the world of art. Even so, chances are that this whole experience is new for you. With newness comes uncertainty and even stress. The Tower is designed to help reduce uncertainty and stress by providing you a framework for success. In this framework, we will discuss how you can achieve professional success by comparing the way you should perform your job as a salesman to how you might get to the top of a tower.
There are many possible towers of success in the world. Each time you start a new career, it's like entering a new tower. Entering a new building brings a host of challenges, frustrations, and opportunities. The Tower is designed to help you reach the penthouse suite and make your climb up the stairs as smooth and simple as possible.
On every climb, there are obstacles of one kind or another: elevators that don't work, hallways closed by construction, fire drill's, and other things that simply get in the way. How well you navigate over, under, and around obstacles depends mainly on your knowledge of the floor plan, confidence, and the condition of your shoes. The decisions you make in navigating the tower will determine the success you find at the top and how fast you get there.
In the profession of sales, we often say that you can write your own check. That is another way of saying that you have the power to be successful if you wish. If you learn and apply the pronciples in The Tower every day, you will be assured of developing the confidence and skills necessary to get to the top! As you read from the Tower, observe how simple it is. Do not over complicate selling things.
You'll find there are a lot of people here who will help you climb to the top. We're pleased that you have chosen Art-Exchange.com as a partner in your pursuit of success and we welcome you to the team!
Personal & Professional Growth
Many salespeople hope to become managers. Many managers wish they were making the same kind of money as professional salespeople, we will provide you with the training to grow to your fullest potential and earn a handsome income while doing so.
What you will learn
Most people sell something every day. What that means is that everyone can sell. Every time you present an idea or enter into a discussion, debate, or argument, you are engaging in the art of persuasion. The Tower will give you the strategies and the guidelines you will need to become effective in the art of persuasion.
Page 3 of 23
In The Tower, you will learn:
1. How to establish a quick rapport with your prospect(victim)
2. How to give an effective presentation by building value.
3. How to use several creative closes.
4. How to overcome objections.
5. How to overcome put-offs
6. How to become a student of selling for a life of learning and success.
By learning the tools in The Tower, you will be able to face your prospects with enthusiasm and confidence. As you apply these techniques every day, over a short period of time, you'll be convinced that this is the only way to get to the top. The Tower is written for people who want to become true professionals, to improve their selling skills, and to become real champions.
Selling is the highest-paid hard work and the lowest paid easy work and the best part of that is the choice is yours... all yours. What you will earn in your selling career is entirely up to you, and what anyone else thinks about what you should and should not get is not going to make much difference. The only thing that really matters is what you do for yourself.
Perhaps the most important concept for you to understand from The Tower is that the skills, the knowledge, and the drive within you are all you need to make it to the top. You can grow in direct proportion to your competence. To earn more and develop more competence, study The Tower, rehearse it's content, and practice the skills at every opportunity. To be successful in sales, you need only do what successful sales people do and we have written it down here in The Tower for you.
Repetition is the key to learning. Repeat anything often enough and it will become a part of you. Effective repetition means that you must read your training material, if you say it out loud, you must cut it apart, and you must put it back together in your own words to fit your own personality.
Skills and knowledge do not wear out with use. Real Learning means going beyond just reading. You must practice and apply your knowledge and skills daily. Selling is not a spectator sport: you can't win if you don't play!
It's easy to convince yourself that you already know the material in The Tower but every sales professional knows that the fundamentals are exclusive and that we must always return to them. Don't limit your own earning potential by allowing yourself to forget or to stop practicing the fundamentals. Make a commitment to yourself to to study The Tower at every opportunity. Every time you review The Tower, you'll see things differently and discover new things that were in front of you the whole time you just weren't ready before.
Page 4 of 23
STANDING ON THE SIDEWALK:
PLANNING AND GOAL SETTING
Before there were elevators in buildings, there were only stairs. In order to get to the top, you had to go through the doors, get past security, climb all the stairs, and open the door to the penthouse suite. In every sale, there are four phases: opening, rapport building, presenting and closing. However, before you enter the building, you must stand outside on the sidewalk and think - the planning phase.
Planning & Preparation:
Before you start your day, you must have a plan so you know what you are going to do and how you are going to do it. This is a floor plan of the tower of success: every day you should have a good plan to work, and every day you should work on that plan.
* Look Successful: Pay attention to the details of how you look from the clothes you wear to the expression on your face. These things affect how you feel and felling confident enables you to be positive, a key element of successful selling. Whether you are making first contact with a prospect or talking to an existing customer about repeat business, your first impression is critical, so do everything you can to make it count!
* Great Attitude: How far can you get with a great attitude? A lot farther than you can being grumpy. Throw yourself into the art community. Enjoy them and allow them to enjoy you. Leave excess baggage at home and come to work focused and smiling on the inside. We perform Great services: we help make dreams come true! Get Excited!
* Confidence: We perform great services. It will be through a great attitude and confidence that this is effectively communicated.
* Planning Sales:
Weekly: You must come into the week with two number in your head: How many appointments will you set and how much revenue will you drive? Those weekly numbers must be broken down into daily numbers each day so you know what you must accomplish to stay on track.
Daily: To prepare for the day, your calender and sales completion forms should be ready to go.
If you plan on making 10 appointments, you should alot slots on your calender already made even if you don't know whose names go in them.
If you plan on closing five sales, five charge slips forms should be at your disposal with your name on them.
Page 5 of 23
* Using the DAILY ACTIVITY RULE: Using the 10% rule of sales, you should be honest with yourself and acknowledge that if you want to close 1 deal each day, you will need to make a sales presentation to 10 prospects per day. That means you need to have 10 appointments set for each day! Remember: prospects and suspects are not the same thing! Don't try to convince yourself that talking to 10 people is the same as talking to 10 prospects. The difference will become apparent as we climb to the top! You can expect to make 100 dials to make 10 appointments. Staying on the phone is key to your own success.
Page 6 of 23
ENTERING THE BUILDING: OPENING
"Smile and the whole world smiles with you!" This song should be in your head every time you introduce yourself. A sales professional who smiles is considered a bearer of good news. The "frowner" might be the tax collector. You might think that smiling does not matter on the phone sales but studies show that prospects can often tell if you are smiling or not! Your prospect will be glad to "see" a smiling face.
How to Win Prospects' Time In The Opening
The first part of your sale begins with effectively getting the attention of the people you call. They weren't expecting to get a sales call and they certainly weren't hoping for one, either. Let your personality shine through to make an immediate connection.
Personality: People will not slow down their busy day for you if you are not more fun or interesting than what they are already doing. We need to show a positive personality that the customer can relate to: Be expressive, nice, helpful, charming, sincere, caring, and humorous. Relate well to people and show energy, and any of your own personal characteristics that will add to your success.
TALKING TO THE SECURITY GUARDS: RAPPORT BUILDING
Rapport (noun) - relationship, especially one of mutual trust or emotional affinity.
Affinity (noun) - a natural attraction, liking, or feeling of kinship.
How to win Prospects' Time During Rapport Building
To succeed in transitioning through the sales process, you must continue to maintain and deserve the attention of the people you call. They weren't expecting to get a sales call and they certainly weren't hoping for one, either. There are different techniques that you can use to win them over:
Give Unto Others and They Will Give Unto You:
Whether it is a nice gesture or providing help with unrelated problems, people always feel the need to respond to a gift with a gift. If you take the time to give them something, they will undoubtedly give back to you. That is, they will give you their ear for 20 seconds, which is all the time you need to sell them on yourself so they will give attention to our products and services. It is much easier to give unto others than you might think at first think.
> Be polite and respectful. It's almost a lost art in the modern world. Just don't end up being so rigid that you are not seen as friendly.
> We provide services to others. Therefore, our conversations are really all about them! Take a moment to try understand and appreciate your prospects' work before you talk to them; then ask them about their work.
> Go out of your way to get feedback and reactions to your artists' work from shows. Call your clients and tell them about it.
Page 7 of 23
Patience: Let the artist talk. Listen to what they say. Don't try to close big deals on small conversations. Except and accept that most deals will not be closed in fewer than 2 conversations.
After the prospect has agreed to interrupt their busy day and stay on the phone with you or, after you re-open a discussion on a call back, there are some major things you want to accomplish in the next phase of the conversation. Building rapport with your prospects will make them relax and put them at ease.
Key: people invest in a relationship by talking, not by listening. In the beginning, you will care more about your relationship with your prospect than they care about their relationship with you. Therefore, you want them to do the talking and you to do the listening.
* "I've seen some of your oil paints and enjoyed them. What do you like best about working with oils?"
* "When and how did you first realize that you were an artist?"
* "I was looking at some of your works and `Handsome Sales Trainer' really caught my eye".
* What was your inspiration for that piece?
* I'm a bit of an art baffoon. Sort of an "I know what I like" person but I'm not schooled as deaaply as I'd like in the fine arts. Tell me about your interpretation of that piece.
* The subject is interesting to me all by itself but tell me: why that pigeon on that park bench that day? What was your inspiration?
Rapport building is critical. Never take a "short cut" or allow yourself to believe that you don't need to do this. Prospects won't buy from you if they don't trust you. If you execute rapport building properly, you will establish a a good foundation for a relationship and the prospect (victim) will feel comfortable with you. If you meet this objective, it will lure the customer into listening to your presentation with the right frame of mind. As a result, the close should be easy.
But, when rapport building is done poorly or not done at all, your presentation and closing phases become difficult. The prospect will offer constant resistance, creating the risk of seeming to argue. Even worse, your prospect may present you with complete indifference and simply waiting for a break in the conversation to end the call. Poor rapport building significantly harms your ability to close deals successfully.
Try not to lose track of time. As critical as rapport building is, your conversation must drive towards creating an opportunity. At the same time, you must love the one you're with: don't throw away opportunities by pressing on to business before trust has been established.
Page 8 of 23
CLIMBING THE STAIRS: PRESENTATION
Once you have opened a conversation and built rapport effectively, you can move your focus toward the real work of selling: climbing the stairs. Everything you have done up to this point has been simply to get this opportunity! This change of focus is called "transition" because you are changing over from social aspects of your conversation to the business aspects, the real effort of selling. You must learn or develope phrases that will allow you to transition into your presentation smoothly. For example:
"Mr.Artist, it sounds like your life's work is ready for the next step. Have you heard about our ... You're going to love this..."
"Trying to get into a gallery can be very frustrating. Let me show you how we can end that frustration and get your work out on an international stage."
"Let me tell you how I can partner with you...this is how it works..."
Presentation Flow: Presenting your Service
You have convinced the prospect to talk to you. Now you must offer a presentation that is simple yet it must also build value in order to convince your prospect to buy. Information from rapport building must be rapidly sorted in your head so that you can target the right service for the prospect's careers level, budget, and familiarity with the Company.
Building Value - Simply The best way to sell and buy Art!
Savings:
* Listings for Live
* Professional sales staff to represent your works at shows.
* Art-Exchange.Com charges less in commission for the sale of original works of art and pays more in royalties than any other organization in the art world we know of.
Credibility:
* This show is brought to the buying public by Art-Exchange.Com. You're really going to like it's value and flexibility.
* Art-Exchange.com's relationship with Timothy's Fine Art gives you access to TFA's exclusive clientele and additional art selling professionals.
* Art-Exchange.com represents over 100,000 works of art for over 10,000 artists.
* Timothy's Fine Art sold over 30,000 prints last year.
* Art-Exchange's 2008 New York Art Expo Booth was the largest at the show, 13 times the size of the next competitor.
Quality:
You will experience:
* Timothy's Fine Art's designer's will custom frame originals physically for ADP participants.
* Personal Control over listings.
* Both Juried and Open opportunities for art promotion.
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Determine if you should learn your own pitch initially by following the presentation flow or by following a script. Truly skilled professional salespeople can sometimes handle the sales process outlined in the presentation flow once they have studied our product and service offerings. In the beginning, most people will have difficulty organizing or staying focused and will benefit from memorizing a scripted pitch.
Scripts have a lot of sales techique built into them and most people benefit from that. Often, when veteran salespeople are struggling, they will go back to a script to get all that technique back into their game plan. Remember? It's very easy to stray too far from the fundamentals. Good scripts have the presentation flow built into them.
Caution: A script is really just an outline for a conversation you intend to have. It's instructive and valuable to memorize one but never get caught reading a script at someone. That's very different from having a conversation with someone. Besides, even if you have a script, your prospect does not, so you must be ready and will to depart from the script and have a normal conversation while, at the same time, try to get back to the next phase of your conversation!
Presentation Flow
* Open: Get customer to smile, guard comes down: Enter the building
* Build Rapport: Build Trust: Talk to security
* Pitch: Use the information from talking to security to connect our services with their needs. Use thr power of earn and deserve to help them believe in themselves: Climb the stairs
* Close: Assumes it! Enter the penthouse suite
Elements of a Good Scripted Pitch
* Assumptive Opening - Avoid "Is this Ms.Artist" and other invitations to play 20 questions.
> "Hi Ms.Artist, my name is Sales Trainer with Art-Exchange and I'm calling about promoting your works."
* Build Rapport - It's all about them to build trust with you.
> "Ms.Artist I've seen your work"
"What did you think of it?"
"I liked it, that's why I'm calling you. I think we can help you get some of the recognition you deserve. Would you mind telling me a little bit about your inspiration for your piece entitled, 'Portrait pf an Awesome Sales Trainer'?"
* Pitch- Use your knowledge of your prospect gained in rapport building to select the right service offering.
> "Ms.Artist, I think a good step for you would be a listing package to get some of your works in front of buyers and gallery owners."
> "Ms Artist, it's clear to me that you are ready for the New York Art Expo, the largest art show of it's kind anywhere."
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> "Ms.Artist, I know you've been to an expo before and I'd like to take you again but I think it's time for us to talk about exposing your works to corporate buyers and the potential for publication."
> "Ms.Artist, I feel very strongly that you are ready for an Expo showing but I understand that's not financially feasible for you at this time. Let's start with an exchange listing package and see if we can't help a buyer identify you to fund your next break."
Assumptive Closing - Don't ask for the money, simply put your hand out and allow them to put it in your hand.
> "Obviously we agree that this is an important opportunity for you. I am available tomorrow at 10:00 am and 2:00 pm. Which works best for you?"
> "Well it seems we agree this is perfect for you. We take Visa and Mastercard, what works best for you?"
> The best scripts don't say anything after an assumptive close and neither do the best salespeople! There's nothing left to explain if you've timed your close properly. Wait for the credit card numbers or for their next question.
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ENTERING THE PENTHOUSE SUITE: CLOSING
After entering the building (opening) and talking to security (building rapport), you have created a need for and explained your service offering as you climbed the stairs (Presentation). The next phase is the most exciting part, the close! Closing is the easiest part but often made complicated by strange descriptions of what closing really is. Before we go any further read the next sentence to your self ten times and believe it each time. Closing is simply the act of asking for the money to complete the deal. Often, closing a sale comes after many smaller closes along the way.
For some reason, people often feel a great need to make closing into something very complicated. It's not complicated. However, let's acknowledge that it can be hard for some people at the beginning of their sales career. This difficulty comes from two different things. First, asking for money is not a normal part of our social competency. Most people can carry on a conversation but not the type that end with a variation of, "what are the numbers on your credit card?" Also, everything before the close can be a fun experience but when the rubber hits the road and we ask for money, we can be rejected, which can be difficult at first.
