“How do I as a timeshare sales person sell timeshare during a recession?” All the reasons for not buying are related to “the bad economy”.

As it’s a question that I get quite regularly at the moment I thought we could address the problem here in “Sales Talk” and hopefully find some answers for everyone.

Firstly I have to say that your failure or success as a sales person relies largely on your personal attitude and how you deal the negatives. So if you go around saying to yourself, “I’m never going to sell anything, there’s a recession on and nobodies got any money” I guarantee you will be 100% right!

You won’t sell anything but you can always blame it on the bad economy and make yourself feel better.

I’m not sure your bank manager will be quite as understanding when it comes to paying your mortgage?

The professional sales person will always look for solutions to the problems and find ways of turning negatives into positives, so let’s look at the positives and how we can use them in our pitch.

It’s a fact that most people even during a recession will still find money for three things.

Smoking, Drinking and Holidays!

The type of holidays might change; they might look for cheaper deals, shorter breaks, or wait for the last minute deals. But the average working class family will still try to fit in at least one holiday in a year. And let’s face it. They’ve worked hard all year and they need and deserve a holiday. So use that in your pitch.

Fact find!

Ask your clients if they have had to take just one holiday this year because money is tight or maybe they are thinking they might have to do without a holiday next year. Have they lowered their standards from what they are used to?

Ask them if they are happy having less or no holidays or lower quality holidays?

Once they agree with you show them how owning timeshare on your resort will cap future inflation, guarantee that they will never have to lower the standard of their holiday accommodation again. Or even worse go without a holiday!

Surely if you have done your presentation right and sold the benefits of owning timeshare and built the desire of guaranteed quality and great facilities, and more importantly you’ve made them actually want to own at your resort. Then it should always come down to the money at the end!

So don’t let them use “The bad economy” as a weak excuse. If someone really wants something bad enough, they will always find the money to buy it!

See you next week.

Alan Hocking, a Professional Sales Trainer and Independent Marketing Consultant has just released his first Sales Training book “The Five Simple But Essential Steps To Getting The Sale” Where he shares his simple but powerful closing skills gained from over 18 years personal experience of Selling Timeshare on the Costa del Sol. For more details of this book and his Sales Training Videos visit: http://www.simplesalestraining.com/

Apart from a couple of minor changes to the shop still to be done this week to make it easier for you to purchase and download the books and videos, I can finally say that the site in general is finished at last!

That means I can concentrate once again on answering all your email queries and return to our weekly “Sales Talk” articles.

This week I want to look at one of the all time classic closes and a definite favourite of mine that has earned me a lot of money selling Timeshare on the Costa del Sol.

“The Alternative Choice Close”

The thing I like most about the alternative choice close is that you can start using it straight away. From the minute you pick up your clients in reception and take them through to the warm up area you can start getting them used to making simple choices like:

“Would you like to sit in the sun or the shade?”

“Would you like a warm drink or a cold one?”

“Would you prefer Orange or Lemon?”

The idea of the alternative choice close is that you get your clients used to making simple choices rather than decisions. Anybody will make a simple choice on the spur of the moment, but making a decision takes a little more thinking about and that’s the last thing you want when you want to get the deal on the day.

More importantly if you narrow down the options you give your clients to just two; the quicker and easier your clients will make their choice without getting confused and need to think about it.

This is where you can get really clever and control the answer the clients give you by using a little bit of sales psychology.

It’s a known fact in sales psychology that when you give someone an alternative choice they will tend to favour the second choice over the first choice as the last part of the sentence will always be fresher in their mind. Even more so if you have used a little voice inflection to slightly emphasise the second choice and made it sound more attractive.

For example, if you want your clients to sit in the shade rather than the sun, just word the alternative choice close: “Would you like to sit in the sun or the shade where it’s much cooler?” and make sitting in the shade sound much more attractive than sitting in the sun.

If throughout your entire sales presentation your clients have got used to making simple choices. When it comes to the final close don’t ask them to buy, assume that they will buy and don’t give them the opportunity to say yes or no. Just ask them if they preferred the one bedroom apartment overlooking the pool, or the two bedroom apartment with the beautiful sea views.

Get the idea?

As always, practise your alternative choice closing on your friends and partner until it flows naturally and doesn’t sound like a canned timeshare sales pitch before you start using it on a real client or they’ll see right through you and you’ll have lost a sale.

See you next week.

Alan Hocking, a Professional Sales Trainer and Independent Marketing Consultant has just released his first Sales Training book The Five Simple But Essential Steps To Getting The Sale Where he shares his simple but powerful closing skills gained from over 18 years personal experience of Selling Timeshare on the Costa del Sol. For more details of this book and his Sales Training Videos visit: http://www.simplesalestraining.com/

It’s a thirty minute video that takes a deeper look at the very first part of your sales presentation, that crucial first five seconds when you introduce yourself to your clients for the very first time and they get to meet you and you get to meet them.

We start by looking at the type of person you have sitting in front of you, and based on which form of marketing they have responded to, expand on what they are likely to be thinking and feeling on the way to the presentation and while they are waiting in the reception to meet you.

Then we take a deeper look at the psychological make up of the type of person that attends a timeshare sales presentation and reveal what’s going through the clients mind and what made them attend the presentation in the first place, so that you, when armed with this inside information, can prepare yourself far better for that crucial first five seconds of your sales presentations and instantly connect with your clients every time.

This video will show you how to:

Know the type of person you are dealing with before you even meet them!

Instantly connect with your clients and make your presentation go smoothly from the very first moment!

Never waste your time with a refused tour again!

At the end of the video there are some priceless tips on self preparation and how to guarantee you make a good impression right from the very start!

Can you really afford not to have this video in your collection?

Check it out now in my new digital download shop!

See you next week.

Just a quick note this week to let you know that at last I’ve finished and placed the introductory video on the Sales Training Videos page.

Check it out and let me know what you think?

 I hope you like it. It’s a nice way of me being able to connect on a more personal level with you all and I give you a bit more of a look into my background, where I’m from and an insight into what’s planned for the first Sales Training Video Series.

The first set of videos I’m producing is designed to complement the book “The Five Simple but Essential Steps to Getting the Sale.”

The first video will be expanding on the step 1: “Meet & Greet” the crucial first five seconds of your sales presentation so keep an eye out for that one it should be available in about a week’s time.

Thanks for all the nice comments and e-mails I’ve been receiving about the book it’s nice to know when you’ve done something well.

We all like a pat on the back sometimes, don’t we.

Don’t forget, if there’s a particular sales skill or closing technique that you would like me to cover in future articles, or a particular objection that you are personally having a problem overcoming, leave a comment below or drop me an e-mail.

Remember: there is no such thing as a foolish question, only a fool who doesn’t ask questions.

See you all next week.