Sell-o-tape

What makes complex sales difficult is that the decision-makers often don't understand what they need and what the differences are between products. It sounds as though you can provide technical differences, but those are meaningless to someone trained in management. Try these tactics:

Make sure the CEO gets involved

In my experience, the MIS (Management Information System) departments have the discretion to use their budgets as they see fit. In a smaller company, a CEO might get involved, although it should be only to approve a purchase the MIS already has recommended. As a result, make sure you have the MIS director's complete support before you bother going to the next level.

Don't meet alone

If the CEO does make the decision, make sure MIS is present at the meetings. You want the CEO to see the head-nodding and excitement in the eyes of the MIS department as you explain your product's advantages. This gives the CEO a chance to ask questions of his or her people, as well.

Develop an industry Timeline

CEOs know how fast technology changes but they don't necessarily understand what that means for their operations. For example if you're selling an online security system, show them how inadequate their current firewalls are by giving them a tour of the industry. Let this be complete with information of the successes hackers have had getting into major companies. You want to plant doubt so the CEO will feel compelled to listen longer.

Use case studies

CEOs are bottomline-oriented. Consequently, you should develop case studies that show the CEO how much money a company lost because they didn't use your product. Steer clear of technical details and focus on what happened to the company. Continuing the above example, was the computer system down for three days, causing massive productivity losses? Did the hackers gain access to sensitive corporate information that could create competitive problems for the company? Did the company lose important data such as order histories from major clients or invoices from vendors? How much did it cost to call in consultants to repair the damage? Just one or two case studies that get to the heart of a CEO's concerns will do you more good than notebooks full of technical information.

Simplify your technical data

Many of today's CEOs grew up before computers. Some don't even use them today. As a result, the jargon is meaningless to them. Assume the CEO knows nothing about your industry and explain the facts as though you're talking to your great-aunt who has never seen a computer. (You might even want to practice once on your aunt to see if you're hitting the right communication level!) Also remember that milliseconds, GBs vs MBs and similar tiny chunks of time or information are irrelevant to the CEO. Use terms he or she can relate to such as "twice as much" of "half as much" as other products.

 TURN 'MAYBE' INTO 'YES'

Sometimes, despite having followed the best sales practices, we all know at there will be at least one difficult client we'll keep running into a wall with. As a salesperson, you don't want to hear responses that mean 'maybe' or 'no'.  But objections like these come with the turf, so you have to be prepared to handle-and resolve-customer reluctance. Here are five ways to help accomplish that.

Anticipate objections: When you're preparing your sales presentation, think about some issues your customer might raise-and plan your response. 

Listen carefully: Show your value as a problem-solving consultant by listening closely to customers' concerns.  Don't interrupt or get defensive. 

Understand the objection: If you're not 100 per cent clear about the customer's precise objection, ask questions. Check your understanding by restating the problem in your own words. 

Answer questions fully and honestly: You won't resolve issues by being evasive or by manipulating customers.Preface your answer by showing you understand the concern is legitimate from their viewpoint.  Confirm that you've dealt with the objection and that your client has no other questions.

Be flexible: Resolve an objection by unbundling products or phasing in an implementation.

The more skilled you are in resolving objections, the higher your closing rates will be. Yet, there will always be times when you can't overcome a customer's resistance. When this happens, be sure to find out the reason you didn't get the sale. This information will at least help you fine-tune future presentations.