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Glossary of Sales Definitions
Back-out: A customer who is trying to or did cancel their order.
Base: Base Salary.
Beating Objections: Answering questions or concerns thus allowing your prospect to make an intelligent purchasing decision.
Buy-Line: A graphical, visual “line” that denotes where a prospect is: regarding emotionally and intellectually being sold. If a prospect is “above the buy-line,” he would theoretically sign the contract if asked to do so.
Buyer’s Remorse: A customer feeling anxiety after making a purchase commitment that can often lead to a back-out or cancellation if not handled properly.
Buying Atmosphere: Setting up your sales presentation so that your customer has a great experience, thus avoiding pressure or awkward moments. People love to purchase, but everyone HATES TO BE SOLD!
Call-back: Making repeated phone calls or contacts to attempt to get a prospect to purchase. (Can be VERY annoying)
Call-blocks: A span of time, normally 2 to 4 hours, spent telemarketing to data-mine, prospect, or perform phone demos and follow-ups.
Call-in: When a prospect contacts you or your company first
Calls: Lead and Prospect contacts. Can be done in-person or via the phone, at trade shows, or any other way that you make actual attempts to contact your lead
Cancellation Prevention: Also known as ‘solidifying your sale.’ To prevent buyer’s remorse and cancellations.
Close: Bringing the prospect to a point of decision.
Closing Ratio: The percentage of sales divided by presentation. Example: if you perform 10 presentations and get 4 sales, you have a 40% closing ratio.
Commission: Your portion of the sale that compensates you for making the sale.
Contact: Your first contact with your lead or prospect. Can be done on phone or in person. Goal of Contact is to set an appointment, or to ‘sit down’ with your prospect.
Conversion: The act of converting a prospect to a client or customer
CREWing: Preventing a back-out
Critical Questions: Asking the Qualifying and Procrastination questions in the Presentation.
Current Customer: A customer who has ordered in the last 12 to 18 months depending on your product cycle.
Data-mining: Researching to find leads or ‘most probable customers’ in your territory. Usually includes first and last name, title, gender, availability, and names in common.
Deal-flow: Number of potential deals you have in your ‘pipe-line.’
Demo: Slang for the presentation. The act of presenting your product to the prospect. Our litmus test to declare a presentation an actual demo or presentation is if you get far enough in the presentation to discuss price.
Demo Goals: Number of demos you wish to accomplish each week.
Demo Ratio: The percentage of demos divided by contacts.
Direct Response Marketing Utilizing direct-marketing via mailers, emails, post-cards to solicit interest from “luke-warm” prospects. DRM is used to get rid of cold-calling (in conjunction with referral selling.)
DOA Customer: A customer who is no longer able to purchase for any reason.
Dollar per Customer: (DPC) Your average dollar per customer including all their orders in a regular product cycle.
Dollar Per Sale: (DPS) Your average dollar per sale
Draw: A ‘loan’ against future commissions earned. Usually set up as a debit/credit system where any commissions you earn must first be used to ‘repay’ the draw.
Draw Cap: The max amount your draw can add up to.
Drive By: “Dropping in” on a lead or prospect in-person, and unannounced.
Footprint: The exact steps an order must go through from acquisition to delivery.
Goal Card: A paper or electronic tool to track demos, calls, and sales.
Law of Averages: Your statistical average of getting a sale from calls to demos. A person can plan his or her results with a fair amount of accuracy if he knows his statistics and thoroughly believes and follows the law of averages.
Law of Compensation: If you help enough people get what they want, you in turn will get what you want!
Lead Generation: Researching the ‘most probable customers in your area.’ This is the list of ‘leads’ or contacts you will eventually approach. Lead Generation is also often used to refer to ‘prospecting,’ although in our company we try not to confuse the two.
Lead: Anyone you could approach to attempt a sale or demonstration
Marketing: The act of promoting your company, products, and services in the effort to attract a primary influence to your company (normally pertains to customers).
Mom & Pop: Small business usually family owned.
Monday Morning Meeting: What most successful sales oriented companies use to start their week- the “sales meeting” (with NO wasted b.s.)
New Customer: A customer who has never ordered before.
Objections: Any question or concern voiced by a prospect that possibly could cause you to not close a sale
Off-Schedule: A sales person who is not performing the agreed upon or necessary tasks to fulfill his/her obligation or quota.
Open Accounts: Accounts that are ready to be resold (you can never re-sell a customer to soon!)
Package Sale: Selling multiple items at one demo.
Past Customer: A customer who has not ordered in the last 12 to 18 months.
Payment: Discussing and agreeing on payment terms for your sale.
Pipe-line: The line of potential candidates you have who will more than likely purchase within a given amount of time.
Pitch: Or, “Pitching your product”: the art of selling your goods or services
Price-build-up: Creating a relativity point to discuss the price of your product or service.
Primary Influences: (to your company) Customers, Employees, Lenders, Vendors, and Stock-holders.
Procrastination: Being “put-off” by a prospect. Leaving without a yes or no.
Prospecting: The act of contacting leads to attempt a sale or demonstration.
Prospect: Any ‘Lead’ who has shown any type of interest in your product or service.
Profile: Researched information regarding your lead or prospect such as first and last name, best time to call, background information, possible needs, and most importantly, names in common that you can use to build rapport.
Presentation: The actual sales presentation, also known as the ‘demo.’ The goal of the presentation is to ‘make the emotional and intellectual sale.’
Protected Territory: When your area is protected against other representatives from your company from calling on the same leads that you are to call on.
Quota: The minimum volume a sales person must produce within a given amount of time.
Rapport: Things you have in-common with the prospect. With our system, we usually refer only to what matters most: NAMES in common!
Referrals: Obtaining additional profile information about other possible prospects.
Retention Rate: Your client retention percentage- How many clients are you keeping as repeat customers?
Sales Bundle: The articles you need to properly submit your sale to customer service. Usually includes contract, payment arrangement, artwork or job specifications.
Schedules and Habits: Your regular sales schedules and habits which will dictate the amount of demos and sales you ultimately make.
Sales Cycle: The beginning to end of your sales process. Starts normally with data-mining, and ends with attempting to get referrals from your client
Sales Manager: Usually the individual responsible for training or motivating and managing/accounting for the results of the team. Often a “Super-Producer” that the owners or superiors “drafted into sales management” with the ill-conceived idea that “just because you’re a super-producer, you’re GUARANTEED to become a Super-Manager!”
Side-selling: The art of selling an additional “complimentary product’ to a prospect who is already using a competitor for your lead product.
Straight-Commission: Working on a commission ONLY basis. No base, draws, etc.
Temperature Questions: Questions you ask to find out where the prospect is on the buy-line such as “how am I doing so far” or “can you see why so many people are getting these?”
Territory: Your area of focus. Usually protected.
Trade-shows: A marketed event that your leads attend to gain information about their occupation or industry. The trade shows are usually sponsored by vendors wishing to gain exposure in front of their most probable customers.
Training Period: Usually referred to the amount of time allocated to a newer sales rep before they are expected to meet quota.
Up-sell: Selling additional products or services to your existing clients.
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