Maybe you noticed the change in heading, quality and quantity. Thats because once you have a high standard of quality information or products, its then time to be generous with sharing it, of course quality is unquestionably most important, but the right amount of quantity is also essential, hence here is part two of our candid Enigin Distributor Interview, enjoy…

Q: How is the recession affecting your business?
A: We are one of the few businesses out there that will benefit greatly from the recession and that simply because it forces business owner’s hand in terms of making them do something about cost cutting and one of the ways to do that is cutting their energy wastage.
Q: What initial success have you had?
A: Starting at every new business is very hard but we did is we started over a period of time and we gave ourselves a very easy first quarter not expecting to make any sale or close any deals. And we found that with our new sales team on the road, we closed our first agreement with a customer within three weeks which was way beyond even my best expectations. It’s fair to say it’s hard work all the way along but who wouldn’t expect that to be the case, but we are making success and we are [banging] on target with our plans.
Q: How does it feel to be running a business that is doing something positive towards climate change?
A: At the end of the day, we are all in this to make money. I had no aspirations to start a charity – I would approach that differently – but it does feel good to be able to talk to colleagues, peers and friends and say that, “We are doing something positive at the same time as we are earning our living.”
Q: How does it feel to be in the green business?
A: I think it’s to the point where “we can profit with integrity” is a line that’s used commonly within the Enigin business and I think that really rings true. We all have to earn our crust somehow and it’s nice to be able to do it in a way that it’s benefiting not only myself and my team but the planet and other individuals.
Q: What advice would you give to anyone considering an Enigin partnership?
A: Be aware it can be very rewarding and stick with it.

A hearty thank you to our busy Distributor who took the time to share his story with us and highlight that working with a quality partner like Enigin pays dividends.

Its like the old adage ‘buy cheap buy twice’ and I am a firm believer, buying quality is actually an investment, a quality vehicle, for example requires less maintenance and hence often overall lower running costs. Buying a quality garment to wear will last longer and actually ‘pay off’ the original investment. Many of us live by these principles in life as they just make sense. So producing quality products, just works better, it creates better business relationships, satisfied customers and more profitability.

Simply stated Enigin and its team believe in quality, but we don’t expect you to take our word for it, as with any quality testing you need to see it for yourself. With that in mind here is part one of a open interview with one of our Distributors. The conclusions you make yourself.

Q: How does it feel like to be running an Energy Saving Business?
A: We look at the news headlines everyday and hear about climate change, about the recession and subjects like that each day, it makes me feel more and more comfortable being involved in an area like this. The news headlines talk about the energy saving business being one of the biggest growth industries on the planet.
Q: What do you feel about the Energy Saving Products that Enigin Offer?
A: I think they’re excellent. Most importantly, I think that the people that we’re meeting with think they’re excellent. It’s kind of irrelevant what I think. It’s whether our potential customers are impressed by them and they are.
Q: What do you think about the support you get from Enigin?
A: The support I get is fantastic. We have the benefit of being in close proximity to the team and we’re able to get immediate answers to our questions.
Q: What response are you receiving from potential customers?
A: The response is absolutely fantastic. We are cold–calling businesses in our catchment area and, normally, people are quite hard to cold-calls but actually people are very keen to meet us; they’re very keen to cut their costs, they’re very keen to do their piece for the environment and they want to meet with us. When we meet with people, we talk through very briefly what we do and we’re finding—the first stage of our discussions is obviously to try and understand their needs and their aspirations. And these people want to cut costs. They want to reduce their energy usage and wastage. And very often, they want us to the people that help them with that. It’s very positive.

Hungry for more cutting questions? More to follow in the next installment…

With Enigin Distributors located worldwide we are ready and installed to help all companies who want to become energy efficient take the most important steps they can to bring their company into the 21st Century. Times have changed, and still are changing.

It is only in the last 5 years, maybe even less that anyone has really started to take notice of the need to save energy and become energy efficient. We have heard the words, global warming, climate change, CO2 emissions and environmental issues for years before that. But it is only recently that people have started taking these “words” more seriously.

These “words” have floated around for a long time, but no real solutions or ideas came of it. Only the fact that we knew there was a problem, we were causing it and it would only get worse.

There are now many ways we can start improving these problems and affecting the future, as to whether these issues are allowed to get worse. There are ideas, tips, advice, technologies, appliances, grants and much more for people, businesses, homeowners and governments to put in place and to practise to take their part in this “climate changing” time.

Sales prospects have a million reasons why they don’t want to buy, or want to think things over. Most of those objections have nothing to do with what your offering, they are just part of the give and take that’s a natural part of any sale.

When new sales people hear an objection, they just hand the prospect a business card or leave a phone number - that’s the end. They never hear back, because the prospect was ready to buy, and almost undoubtedly bought from somebody else.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

There are few sales skills as important as the ability to answer objections, so let’s look at the final answer to a sales objection:

6: Change the Subject and Move Forward

Once you’ve gotten the customer to agree that an objection has been answered, don’t dwell on it.

That’s only going to make it come alive from the dead!

Instead, change the subject by asking a question on an unrelated matter. The classic approach is to bring up the benefits of the offering. For example:

Sales Pro: “…and so that’s all taken care of, right?”
Prospect: “Right.”
Sales Pro: “Great! By the way, did you notice that our reference accounts include some of the largest companies in the world…”

Needless to say, you’re going to want to move the sale toward the close. I’ll explain how to do that here…

Sales prospects have a million reasons why they don’t want to buy, or want to think things over. Most of those objections have nothing to do with what your offering, they are just part of the give and take that’s a natural part of any sale.

When new sales people hear an objection, they just hand the prospect a business card or leave a phone number - that’s the end. They never hear back, because the prospect was ready to buy, and almost undoubtedly bought from somebody else.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

There are few sales skills as important as the ability to answer objections, so let’s look at the fifth answer to a sales objection:

5: Confirm That the Objection is No Longer Important

After you’ve answered an objection, you MUST get the customer to agree that you’ve answered it. This prevents the objection from resurfacing later. The reason this is important is simple. People feel inconsistent and foolish if they bring up issues that they’ve already agreed are no longer important. For example:

Prospect: “We don’t have the money in this year’s budget.”
Sales Pro: “That’s O.K. We can finance the investment so part of it falls into next year’s budget. Does that work for you?
Prospect: “I guess so.”
Sales Pro: “So that settles that, doesn’t it?”
Prospect: “Right.”

Sales prospects have a million reasons why they don’t want to buy, or want to think things over. Most of those objections have nothing to do with what your offering, they are just part of the give and take that’s a natural part of any sale.

When new sales people hear an objection, they just hand the prospect a business card or leave a phone number - that’s the end. They never hear back, because the prospect was ready to buy, and almost undoubtedly bought from somebody else.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

There are few sales skills as important as the ability to answer objections, so let’s look at the fourth answer to a  sales objection:

4: Reframe the Importance of the Objection

As any experience sales pro can attest, most objections can be overcome by comparing them to the benefits of the offering. For example:

Prospect: “The taxes are too high on that house.”
Sales Pro: “Yes, the taxes are a higher than the surrounding neighborhoods, which is probably why the public schools are so much better. Which is of greater concern to you, the taxes or the quality of education your children will receive?”

You have to do this subtly, though. The worst thing you can do is make the customers look foolish for having an objection. For example, here’s what NOT to do:

Prospect: “I heard this is not a good area for property appreciation.”
Sales Pro: “Whoever told you that doesn’t know anything real estate.”
Prospect: “My mother told me that.”

Here’s a better approach to this situation:

Prospect: “I heard this is not a good area for property appreciation.”
Sales Pro: “We can check the appreciation rates when we get back to my office. Would that be critical to your decision about making a purchase in this area?”

Another common approach is to reframe the metrics. While this technique involves some quick math, it’s generally worth the extra effort. Here’s a classic example:

Prospect: “That computer is $1,000 more than I want to pay.”
Sales Pro: “I can appreciate that. You know, $1,000 comes down to about $.25 a day for the length of time that you’ll have the computer. Is the extra horsepower worth an extra $.25 a day to you?

Sales prospects have a million reasons why they don’t want to buy, or want to think things over. Most of those objections have nothing to do with what your offering, they are just part of the give and take that’s a natural part of any sale.

When new sales people hear an objection, they just hand the prospect a business card or leave a phone number - that’s the end. They never hear back, because the prospect was ready to buy, and almost undoubtedly bought from somebody else.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

There are few sales skills as important as the ability to answer objections, so let’s look at the third answer to a  sales objection:

3. Discover if it’s a Roadblock or a Speedbump

There are two kinds of objections: roadblocks and speedbumps. A roadblock means that the sale is NOT going to happen; a speedbump is simply something than needs to be overcome.

Fortunately, there is only one real roadblock — when when it turns out that the customer either has no money to make the purchase or can’t get the credit to obtain the money for the purpose. That’s a deal-killer. Period.

Many objections are initially vague, often varieties of “I want to think it over.” Experienced sales pros delve into the customer’s thinking to discover the real objection, and come up with an appropriate response. For example:

Prospect: “I want to think it over.”
Sales Pro: “That’s fine… obviously you wouldn’t take the time if you weren’t serious, right?”
Prospect: “I guess not.”
Sales Pro: “Just to clarify my thinking, what is it that you need to think about?”
Prospect: “I’m not sure we have the budget.”

At this point, the sales pro needs to determine whether this actually is a roadblock (no money), or whether it’s just a speedbump (not a priority to buy).

If the former, it’s time to bail. If the latter, then the sales professional needs to raise the priority of the purchase versus other purchases. The best way to do this is to work on estimating the financial impact of not purchasing. For example:

Sales Pro: The price for this kind of offering has been going up every year. My fear is that if you don’t purchase now, you’ll end up regretting it next year, when you know you have to purchase.

By the way, if you keep on encountering objections end up in a discussion about price, you’re not laying the groundwork for a successful sale. This is always a signal that you need to do a better job of differentiating your offering.

We are also concerned with installs and ongoing customer support, but sales is the first process and if you’re in sales, you will run into objection.

Sales prospects have a million reasons why they don’t want to buy, or want to think things over. Most of those objections have nothing to do with what your offering, they are just part of the give and take that’s a natural part of any sale.

When new sales people hear an objection, they just hand the prospect a business card or leave a phone number - that’s the end. They never hear back, because the prospect was ready to buy, and almost undoubtedly bought from somebody else.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

There are few sales skills as important as the ability to answer objections, so here is the second answer to a  sales objection:

2. Restate the Objection and Ask for Details

It’s vitally important that the prospect realize that your heard the objection and that you’re willing to discuss it. Therefore, you must hear the customer out, and ask for more information or a clarification of the objection.

This request encourages the customer to provide you with valuable information that you’ll need in order to answer the objection. For example:

Prospect: “Your energy efficiency programme is too expensive.”
Sales Pro: “Yes, high quality products and systems are expensive. How much were you looking to spend?”
Prospect: “We’ve been paying around $1000 a month.”

By restating and asking for details, the sales pro has clarified the problem and now knows the price point that the prospect expects to see. This information can now be used either to determine a discount or as a flag that the sales pro needs to position his offering as higher quality than the incumbent vendor. For example:

Sales Pro: “What kind of energy savings are you looking for?”
Prospect: “Well, something better than we have been achieving. We have to reduce energy waste.”
Sales Pro: “We have a special energy saving programme that is comprehensive and will bring those improvements.”

Sales prospects have a million reasons why they don’t want to buy, or want to think things over. Most of those objections have nothing to do with what your offering, they are just part of the give and take that’s a natural part of any sale.

When new sales people hear an objection, they just hand the prospect a business card or leave a phone number - that’s the end. They never hear back, because the prospect was ready to buy, and almost undoubtedly bought from somebody else.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

There are few sales skills as important as the ability to answer objections, so let’s get started witht he first answer to a  sales objection:

1. Silently Celebrate the Objection

In the process of deciding to buy, most prospects raise objections.

Many sales professionals think that objections are bad things, because they mean that the prospect is trying to wriggle out of buying. Nothing could be further from the truth.

People who are NOT going to buy NEVER raise objections. Why should they? They’re simply not interested and therefore aren’t going to put the mental energy into coming up with a reason not to buy. When a prospect hears a little voice saying “I want it,” the next normal response is to come up with an objection.

Prospects who don’t come up with objections either aren’t qualified to make a decision or don’t have the money or credit to make a purchase. So if you don’t hear at least one objection, then the “prospect” isn’t serious about buying. So if you hear an objection, your first job is to have a private little celebration in your brain, because it means that you’ve got a good chance to make the sale.

This is not to say that you don’t have to handle the objection. In fact, the way that you handle the objection can either close the deal or lose the sale.

For Enigin, Enigin Distributors and Enigin Partners this is an important question, as we are on the leading edge of a business that is growing in importance as times pass, and will beme ever more important as the effects of climate change take hold.

So how will we sell our energy saving and energy efficiency services, systems and solutions in the future - or rather what roles will be needed - from bnet.com we have these suggestions:

• Indirect Sales. Must be able to train channels (resellers and distributors) on sales and programs, make joint sales calls, motivate channel partner through presentations and conversation, provide product knowledge as necessary and maintain repeat sales through the channel.
• Strategic Account Manager. Must be able to develop leads, find opportunities, penetrate prospect and customer accounts.  Requires long hours of communication and account development, as well as problem solving and the ability to bring opportunities to a close.
• New Business Development (aka “Hunter”). Demands individuals who can develop leads, find opportunities, penetrate prospects and customers, and be willing to put in long hours as well as problem solve and close.
• Account Management (aka “Farmer”). Requires excellent customer relations, skills focused on working internal systems on the customer’s behalf, and effectiveness at explaining and clarifying issues to the customer; this is driven by the desire to increase business and the ability to work long hours when necessary to accomplish that.
• Territory Consultative Product Sales. Focuses on establishing a credible image, developing new business through effective qualifying and presentation skills driven by the motivation to be an effective consultant
• Territory Relationship Product Sales. Calls for a disciplined and systematic approach to goal achievement and a focused response to customer needs in a service capacity, as well as effective communication skills and the ability to work a sales plan in account penetration; removes objections and gives permission to buy.
• Territory Consultative System Sales. Demands the skill to develop business through effective lead generation, qualification of profitable prospects, and tailored presentations; willing to work long hours to meet objectives, sets ambitious goals and achieves them through effective selling, and understands sales strategies and tactics.
• Territory Relationship System Sales. Adapts image to accommodate customers, gives personal attention, and takes hands-on responsibility for assuring continued customer satisfaction; knowledgeable of sales strategies and pushes to set personal records in sales; comfortable with the recognition of a high-profile role.
• System Specialist. Focuses on assuming the leadership to learn customer needs and goals, stays continuously aware of the market and spends the long hours it takes to influence and train others.
• Product/Service Specialist. Customers look for individuals who provide reliable information, learn their business, know the market, and communicate effectively while remaining dedicated to their own sales results.
• Product/Transactional Specialist. Demands initiative and perseverance to develop leads, qualify, and close on an ongoing basis.
• Outbound Telesales. Takes the initiative to present benefits and answer objections in order to grow the business; willing to learn the products and services; can persevere for as long as necessary to succeed.
• Inbound Telesales. Requires an image conscious vocal demeanor in a service oriented individual who is interested in learning the customer’s needs, solving problems, and making the appropriate (and profitable) recommendations
• Customer Service Representative. Calls for a focused commitment to take personal responsibility for satisfying all customers, regardless of their attitude or style; solutions must be intelligently thought out, often quickly, and presented with a positive attitude.