Sales Training

Manager Training Requirements In Franchising Companies

2009-03-03T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Lance Winslow

Franchising companies must be very specific with regards to manager training and requirements for their franchised outlets. It is ultra-important to maintain consistency, quality and customer service in a franchising company. The name brand depends on it.

It is for this reason that I took the liberty of rewriting our franchise agreement and adding a clause to address this issue. Below you will find what I came up with in regards to manager training requirements in our company;

4.2.3 Manager Training

Franchisor requires that Franchisee submit to Franchisor their proposed manager training program prior to their sending a new manager or crew leader to this training program. If the proposed manager training program is not approved in its original form Franchisee must modify it and resubmit a new manager training proposal. This training is required of all managers, crew leaders and anyone who will be operating the car wash trucks/units unsupervised. Franchisee will bear all costs of the proposed manager training, including a reasonable training fee at the then current rates.

Franchisor may evaluate any managers or crew leaders that Franchisee sends to their training and determine for Franchisee if they are capable of operating a car wash truck in the Marketing Area following Franchisor's standards, specifications and procedures as outlined in the Confidential Operations Manual.

Franchisor may allow a manager or crew leader who has failed their training program a chance to retake the course one additional time.

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Since this issue is so important to all franchising companies, it is recommended that if you run a franchising company, you should talk to your franchising attorney and strategize how best to address this issue to protect your brand name. I hope you will consider this in 2006.

Lance Winslow

Why All Sales Decisions Are Based On Emotion Heres The Proof

2009-03-02T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Tim Stokes

Have you ever gone into a newsagent, picked up a magazine and flicked through the pages for a while, read the index, read some of the pages in the magazine?

From my research your answer will almost certainly be yes, at some time. So let me ask you why did you stand there reading the magazine instead of just saying to yourself, 'I've read this magazine before, I think I'll buy it?'

The answer is, because you wanted to know you would get value for your money. You wanted to know more about what content might benefit or interest you in your life. And you really wanted to know if the magazine was worth your $5 or so!

After all $5 is $5. You don't want to risk throwing it away, do you? So instead you stand there reading for a while, as long as you need to (without feeling guilty or locking eyes with the shop owner), to see if you can establish enough VALUE for your money.

Could it be that you feel an APREHENSION about spending your money? Of course you do, you 'feel' a risk anytime you part with money. And apprehension is an emotion.

Let me give you another example of why there is always an emotion present in a customer in a sales scenario...

Have you ever told a lie to a sales person? Of course you haven't, is your first reactive answer. But think about this, have you ever entered a shop and been asked if you need help then replied with 'no thanks, I'm just looking?'

That's the knee jerk reaction to the most common question in sales, 'can I help you'.

Now, have you ever thought soon after replying with that knee jerk reaction that you wish you hadn't of said that?

If so then you've just told a lie. And why do you tell small, little, white lies? Could it be that's you're afraid of sales people... because they might pressure you into making a rash decision you regret later on?

Its funny but they say sales people tell lies to customers. Maybe we learn how to lie as sales people by telling lies to sales people when we're the customers!

Don't get serious on me here. This is just poking fun at human nature, but the lesson is there is emotion present in customers when they talk to sales people.

Here's one final example...

When we're customers and we look for a service or product selling business from say, Yellow Pages, what's one of the first questions we commonly ask when we call the business?

Often a question we ask is 'how much does it cost?'

The reason I've noticed that people ask that question is that it's the only intelligent question they know how to ask! That's because as customer who are quite lacking in knowledge on what we are buying. So instead of telling the sales person 'I don't know anything about your product or service', so we can totally rely on their recommendations and 'trust' them, we instead pretend that price is important by asking them that question.

If the sales person is smart, they will realise the customer wants information, not a price, so they can make an informed decision about suitability of their own emotion needs and benefits.

What's happening here is that we don't like anyone to think we're dumb. We fear asking a question about a product or service we don't normally buy, in case we ask something that makes us feel stupid!

Instead we play the 'price game'.

By now I would think you're starting to agree that emotion always plays a part of any sales scenario. There is evidence all around us in society that says money always travels hand in hand with emotion. Where we risk losing it, we have apprehension, even with $5 next time you go to the newsagency to read a magazine!

Tim Stokes has studied emotional needs of people applied to sales and marketing more than most people you will find in the world.

To find out more about Tim's philosophy on selling check out his other article called, "How to Build Rapport in 7 Seconds".

Using the knowledge of understanding people's emotions in sales training Tim has created fantastic profit increases in months, even weeks or days, with every business he has ever worked with!

To find out more about Tim's amazing sales and marketing skills go to his website at http://www.bbms.com.au

Training Is A Complete Waste Of Peoples Time Isnt It

2009-03-01T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Jim Symcox

Is formal and informal training important? After all we can all learn from other employees or from outside consultants we bring in can't we?

Well, in my previous life as a consultant IT project director I noticed people would often be too busy doing their own job to learn the skills of an outside consultant too.

That's despite massive efforts made to train people.

But unless skills are used regularly after training they fade away.

Learning from others in your own organisation can also be fraught.

Learning by "sitting next to Nellie" as it's known can work. But it means that any weak custom and practise procedures are copied.

These weak procedures may actually be the direct opposite of the company strategy.

Also if you're learning from someone because they're just about to leave the company, for whatever reason.

You don't get their total focus on teaching you their job.

So ways of doing things can become less and less effective as time goes on.

That means that service to your customers becomes worse. Simply because the people serving them don't know the best way of working.

Research shows that over 60% of customers leave a business because of poor, ineffective or indifferent service.

Let's look at the story of two woodcutters

Once there were twin brothers. They were tall, strapping lads who had both become lumberjacks at the same time. One year they took part in a logging competition together. Each was strong and beat everyone they came up against. Until they reached the final where they met each other.

They seemed evenly matched. The crowd looked and urged them on as they both started cutting timber at a strong rate of knots. After an hour one of the brothers stopped for a few minutes. Let's call him the "idle chopper". He soon resumed work but every hour he kept stopping.

Eventually the competition finished and it was immediately obvious that the idle chopper had cut down significantly more wood than his brother.

His brother shook his hand to congratulate him and asked, "how on earth did you cut twice as much wood as me despite stopping so frequently?"

The idle chopper smiled and said "I wasn't really resting I was sharpening my axe so my cuts went deeper faster than yours with your blunt axe."

The "idle chopper" was really the "smart chopper" because he'd taken to heart what President Abraham Lincoln had said.

Abraham Lincoln said "Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe."

People can look at training as a complete waste of a company's time. Because it's preventing their staff from getting the job done.

But look at the woodcutters the one who kept stopping to sharpen his axe won.

The same is true of any company that gives their staff training. It may stop the busy, busy time for a short while but it means that staff become more productive and therefore achieve more.

Getting yourself and your staff trained is essential if you want to continue to grow and develop.

If you don't you'll be like 90% of businesses over a 10 year time frame and be out of business.

It's really that stark a choice.

There are a number of effective training strategies that I would recommend you to use.

Two of the most powerful are as follows:

a) A Weekly Company Workshop
b) Formal Courses - with a twist

Let me explain exactly how they work so that you can go and apply them in your business immediately.

Weekly Company Workshop

1) Set-up an hour per week where all employees gather together.

The first workshop is the Set-up and Introduction Workshop.

2) In this workshop you all brainstorm the issues and problems that you and your customers have with the company.

Someone is designated to takes action notes. That is notes that simply list the actions to be taken with the person responsible and the date to be completed (always before the next meeting).

3) You then prioritise and agree the issues amongst everyone there.

Hint: Give particular weight to customer issues as they are quite likely to resolve one or more internal issues too.

4) Provide a full list of prioritised issues to all attendees. The attendees should be everyone who works for the company, unless they're sick.

The Second and subsequent workshops are Issue Eaters

5) Take the first issue from the list that was issued the day of the last meeting - it's that important.

6) Brainstorm possible solutions to the issue.

For example the customers are returning a product to you in large numbers but you can't see why. The issue is "You don't know why the product is being returned".

Several possible solutions occur:

a) Ring customers and ask them why they're returning them. Also ring customer's who've kept them and ask them why too.

b) Send every customer a questionnaire asking several questions, including one on returns and also specifically for the product in question.

c) Ask the sales force to go and see each customer and ask for their most honest feedback.

d) The managing director to ring the companies concerned to see what the problem is.

Collate the answers and provide the information and analysis to the group the following week.

7) If the solution calls for a better procedure or company process to be implemented designate someone to write it and for it to be issued before the next meeting for review and agreement.

8) Only address one issue per session - even if you finish it in 10 minutes. But you must focus completely on that issue.

9) Review the solution and check that it is working. Then sign it off and add to the list of completed issues.

Guess what you're building with the documentation?

It's a company handbook that allows new staff to get up to speed on how your company has got to where it is now and what the current procedures and processes are.

Not just that. It means that at a stroke you've pooled the brainpower of your staff to produce new and better ways of working that help customers and your staff.

You tell me. Do you think your customers are going to become even happier with an organisation that addresses and resolves issues?

Now you may be thinking I'm only a one person or two person company?

This method applies equally well to you too.

The great thing about it is that as long as you document you'll have processes in place when you get more staff.

Formal Courses - with a twist 1) Have a formal training strategy for each person. It doesn't matter whether you're a one person or 3,000 person company. You need a strategy because otherwise you'll get asked for training that doesn't fit with your company goals.

2) Plan what courses staff (and you) should attend during the year.

3) Attend the course - there should be no excuse for non- attendance.

4) Now here's the twist before your staff go on the course tell them that you're going to ask them to do a short presentation on the course at the next weekly meeting to all the staff. The presentation is a short summary of the course content, and the 6 to 10 things that the person has learnt and will apply in their job. Followed by 10 minutes of questions.

The reasons for this are:

a) Others benefit from hearing what the course was all about b) The attendee will pay much more attention to the course and learn more from it c) You're training staff to feel comfortable giving presentations in a relaxed environment. d) Other staff may learn things they can apply in their job.

5) Make sure that they do the presentation. If not you get none of the benefits outlined previously. Make sure everyone does the presentation, even someone who is quaking in dread. Help them get over it by letting them stay seated, or just present over 2-3 weeks. But make sure they do present - it must be a condition of attendance.

6) Been on a course yourself? Right. You do the same as your staff. They're learning about what you do.

Finally and most importantly there is a set of Golden Training Rules I always use which is

a) Training must be applied when you return from the course b) You and your staff must support attempts to use the training. It may not work very well initially as people start to apply it. c) Re-train at intervals because skills can only be improved by repetition. Look at karate, golf, football and other sports you have to keep practising to get better. It's the same with work training.

For example people learn everything on a time management course but maybe only apply 10% of what they learnt and forget the rest. When they go again they learn pretty much the same thing but then apply another 10% of what they learn and forget the rest.

So over time they apply more and more of what they're taught until eventually they're using all the time management techniques and are experts. Get them to teach new staff!

d) Once you've got trained up experts use them to train your own staff.

Does training staff stop the company making money? Ultimately the answer is it makes you even more money than you did before they were trained.

Remember the two axmen?

You want to be the smarter chopper.

Jim Symcox, also known as the Marketing Magician has worked as a consultant since the mid 1980's.

He is a marketing coach, copywriter and the author of "How to Leap Ahead Of Your Competitors".

He lives in Manchester, United Kingdom with his wife and 4 children. He is also a member of the University Gilbert & Sullivan society and enjoys singing in a show each year.

For a free chapter from "How To Leap Ahead Of Your Competitors email him at web@acornservice.com with "ezinearticles" in the subject line.

Three Types Of Salespeople

2009-02-28T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Jim Meisenheimer

"There are three kinds of salespeople; those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who are wondering what happened." You've probably heard that one before. Actually, there are two different types of salespeople and they are easy to tell apart.

The first type is the improvisor. He seldom prepares, his preferred style, is to take things as they come. He likes to be spontaneous. He relies on his instinct and counts on his intuition to carry the day. His days are fun filled and exciting, because he literally treats each sales call like an adventure. He's the Indiana Jones of selling, foot loose and fancy free, what ever that means.

The second type is the professional. He also enjoys his work, for different reasons. He anticipates everything, especially the routines. He knows the routines given the opportunity to prepare in advance. For example, he handles recurring objections. He knows he'll get them over and over again, so he prepares in advance how he will deal with them. He plays with words, until he creates power phrases that work. Once prepared, he knows that to execute the delivery, he must practice what he has prepared. He records his power phrases into a recorder a plays them over and over until they are anchored. He treats sales calls as opportunities not as adventures.

There are two types of salespeople and two different results. Each one follows a pattern, one is unstructured and one isn't. Each can be seen as a formula. One formula gets better results than the other. Here they are:

I + I = I (instinct + intuition = improvisation)

P + P = P (preparation + practice = professionalism)

The secret to selling success is that there are no shortcuts, no quickies just plain old fashioned hard work.
These are the formulas, you make the choices. One doesn't require much preparation. One pays better than the other. Remember this, you will never improvise as well as you can prepare. Also remember, your
customers can usually tell the difference.

You can become the best you can be, if you prepare and practice sufficiently.

Jim Meisenheimer is the creator of No-Brainer Sales Training. His sales techniques and selling skills focus on practical ideas that get immediate results. You can discover all his secrets by contacting him at (800) 266-1268 or by visiting his website: http://www.meisenheimer.com

Telling Stories

2009-02-27T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Kurt Mortensen

Paint the picture for your audience. The more you can create the setting-the sights, the sounds, the smells, the feelings-the more your audience will be drawn in. Remember, you want the experience to become their experience-something they can readily identify with. As a persuader, you've got to take them there. As you prepare yourself, keep in mind all the ways in which you can really produce a mental and emotional imprint. You want your prospects to see your story in their minds' eyes, playing out like a movie. You want them to really take the story home, to have a place in their hearts for years to come. When you reach their hearts and involve their minds, you will be persuasive.

After stepping back to allow the big picture to sink in, you're ready to begin crafting your story. In this first phase, it is important to walk yourself through all the basic questions: Who is my audience? What do I want them to take away from this experience? No matter how basic the questions may be, don't shortchange yourself from having a good brainstorm. You'd be amazed at the brilliant ideas that come once a chain of thoughts is set into motion-ideas that would not have come if you hadn't broken from the routine and allowed yourself a good time-out. In order to get the ball rolling, it may be helpful to consider the questions at the end of this chapter.

We've already spoken about the great importance of engaging your audience as much as possible. One of the best ways to do this is to provide them with generous details. That is, make your story as vivid as possible. In the courtroom, lawyers make their stories so rich in sensory detail that the jury literally sees, hears and feels the event. The more concrete and specific your descriptive details, the more persuasive your story selling will be. Using specific details pulls your listeners into the story and makes the story seem real to them. Here's another twist on introducing as much detail as possible: Consider the different ways in which you can capture your audience's senses. Get them to see, hear, feel and even taste and smell the elements of your story. The more involved your prospects feel, the more they will take the message home.

When you tell a story, your body and your voice become the stage, the actors, the costumes, the music and the props. For this reason, it is really important to take apart every element that contributes to the presentation as a whole and analyze it. The most obvious piece of story-selling equipment is your voice. It is the most direct and apparent mode of communication. I'd like to talk about using the right words, as well as how to use them. The right words are captivating; the wrong words are devastating. Effective words make things come to life, create energy and are more persuasive. Contrarily, ineffective words dull and alienate. Numerous studies have shown that a common trait successful men and women share is their skilled use of language. Speakers who possess greater verbal skills are seen as more credible, competent and convincing. Speakers who hesitate, use the wrong words or lack fluency have less credibility and come across as weak and ineffective.

How we say the words we choose is just about as important as the words themselves. Our voice is a powerful instrument that can either motivate the troops or lull them to sleep. The next time you watch the news, notice how the anchors use their voices. News anchors are often trained to inflect their voices downward at the ends of sentences because doing so suggests confidence and authority. On the other hand, upward inflections tend to imply lack of confidence or doubt. One research study showed that judges communicate their bias and attitudes via their tone of voice. Juries in California were twice as likely to convict trial defendants when the judges already knew the defendants had prior convictions. In spite of the law prohibiting judges from disclosing such information, jurors still detected the judge's leanings based on her/his voice's lack of warmth, patience and tolerance.

Learning how to persuade and influence will make the difference between hoping for a better income and having a better income. Beware of the common mistakes presenters and persuaders commit that cause them to lose the deal. Get your free report 10 Mistakes That Continue Costing You Thousands and explode your income today.

Conclusion

Persuasion is the missing puzzle piece that will crack the code to dramatically increase your income, improve your relationships, and help you get what you want, when you want, and win friends for life. Ask yourself how much money and income you have lost because of your inability to persuade and influence. Think about it. Sure you've seen some success, but think of the times you couldn't get it done. Has there ever been a time when you did not get your point across? Were you unable to convince someone to do something? Have you reached your full potential? Are you able to motivate yourself and others to achieve more and accomplish their goals? What about your relationships? Imagine being able to overcome objections before they happen, know what your prospect is thinking and feeling, feel more confident in your ability to persuade. Professional success, personal happiness, leadership potential, and income depend on the ability to persuade, influence, and motivate others.

Kurt Mortensen's trademark is Magnetic Persuasion; rather than convincing others, he teaches that you should attract them, just like a magnet attracts metal filings. He teaches that sales have changed and the consumer has become exponentially more skeptical and cynical within the last five years. Most persuaders are using only 2 or 3 persuasion techniques when there are actually 120 available! His message and program has helped thousands and will help you achieve unprecedented success in both your business and personal life.

If you are ready to claim your success and learn what only the ultra-prosperous know, begin by going to http://www.PreWealth.com and getting my free report "10 Mistakes That Continue Costing You Thousands." After reading my free report, go to http://www.PreWealth.com/IQ and take the free Persuasion IQ analysis to determine where you rank and what area of the sales cycle you need to improve in order to close every sale!

Sales Training For Car Washes

2009-02-26T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Lance Winslow

It is important for carwashes to train their employees how to sell especially if it is service writer that the customer talks to first when they pull up. It is also important for the cashier to listen to the customer and perhaps engage them in conversation in case they want add-on services.

For instance if your carwash also does auto detailing, windshield repair and oil changes or does other automotive types services on the property then it makes sense that the cashier understand how the ancillary businesses works and is able to properly answer questions for the customer and sell those services.

It is a known fact in a carwash business that it is easier to sell services to someone who has already purchased a carwash, then it is to get a new customer. Up selling services at a carwash makes sense. The greeter or service writer should be the first person that the car owner contacts when they pull up and get in line at your carwash and they should engage the customer and listen very closely to their needs.

The Service Writer must work with the customer to problem solve and show or tell the customer how the carwash can go about solving those problems. For instance a customer may point to a spot on their carpets or a scratch on the side of their car from a shopping cart today and would very much like it removed.

This service writer should be able to look at that and know if it is possible that the carwash can fix that problem and if so sell the appropriate services so the customer is fully satisfied and let the customer no it is risk free, if they cannot fix it, they will not be charged for that extra service. Consider this in 2006.

Lance Winslow

Salesmen And Ethics

2009-02-25T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Lance Winslow

Salesmen often get a bad rap. We all know they are needed otherwise nothing would ever get sold and therefore no one would have a job making all those products, shipping them, packaging them or designing them. Zig Ziglar use to say nothing ever happens until someone sells something.

Many people believe that; "A "good" salesman can stretch things and exaggerate them just to make a sale."

Indeed this is the common perception and the very reason that I dislike salesmen and why I do not like being called that. In my career as a Franchisor more than once I had been called a salesman. Some say that; "Even if the salesman doesn't truly believe in the product he's selling, he may SEEM like he really, truly does, there again just to make that sale."

Indeed, but you can see thru it, as you do not sense sincerity. Well you should sense it; I guess some people don't because they are not looking for the subtle signs.

I believe the answer to changing salesmen who are dishonest is to re-configuring their choices for the rush they feel when they make the sale. To channel that energy to another cause and to move that love of the sale to a more positive endeavor we can redirect the chemical release in the brain they are getting from the excitement of selling.

If we can change those things they are doing which are destructive with something positive which they enjoy which does not hurt another. I.E. live and let live, do onto others as... and the thought that you are allowed to pursue happiness as long as it does not trample the rights of another's quest for the same; then we can get these people from committing fraud. Consider this in 2006.

Lance Winslow

Online Training On Autopilot Series Persuasion Through Influence Part 1 Of 4

2009-02-24T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by George Ritacco

Is there a difference between Influence and Persuasion? Yes there is.

Influence is the process of changing someone's behavior.

To persuade is to alter someone's attitude or beliefs.

Are the two similar in nature? Sure. But they are not the same and often times many people confuse the two.

While persuasion can be a tool to create influence, as an employee influence is far more important. Having less customer complaints and higher sales can only come from a positive change in the customer's behavior.

Here's something interesting there is an old wives tale that the ability to influence is a character attribute some possess and others do not. It's true for some people; the power to influence comes naturally. However there is good news for everyone else. There's been research conducted over the past 30 years that indicates virtually anyone can apply the principles of influence to change the outcome of any personal interaction. This research is based upon extensive observation of leading salespeople inside a wide variety of industries. By studying individuals in sales situations, scientists have been able to identify certain patterns of behavior and speech that increase the likelihood of someone saying yes to a request.

How Understanding the Principles of Influence Can Lead to Employee Loyalty.

According to Robert B. Cialdini PhD, there are 6 universal principles of influence. Today, in this field, Dr. Cialdini is the most-cited living Social Psychologist in the world. Additionally, he has a reputation as the seminal expert in the science of influence. Dr. Cialdini's bestseller, INFLUENCE, has been published in 20 different languages and in 23 different countries. It has been consistently ranked in the top one percent on AMAZON.com.

The Principles of Influence.

First, reciprocation. People give back to you the kind of treatment that they have received from you.

Second is scarcity. People will try to seize the opportunities that you offer them that are rare or dwindling in availability.

Third, authority. People will be most persuaded by you when they see you as having knowledge and credibility on the topic.

Fourth, commitment. People will feel a need to comply with your request if it is consistent with what they have publicly committed themselves to in your presence.

Fifth, liking. People prefer to say yes to your request to the degree that they know and like you.

And finally is consensus. People will be likely to say yes to your request if you give them evidence that people just like them have been saying yes to it.

Now before we jump into each of them and explain how each one can transform the way you currently train and communicate it's important to understand that not everyone uses them optimally. In his own research, Dr. Cialdini was able to detect three kinds of influence practitioners. There are bunglers of influence, there are smugglers of influence, and then there are sleuths or detectives of influence.

Bunglers are the people who fumble away their chances to use the principles in a beneficial way, either because they don't know what the principles are or because they don't know how to engage them properly. These people are always dropping the ball when it comes to the influence process.

Smugglers, on the other hand, do know, quite well, what the principles are and how they work. But they import these principles into situations where they don't naturally exist. An example would be a salesperson who pretended to be an authority on a particular computer system in order to get a customer to buy it. Although the smuggler's approach often works in the short run, it's deadly in the long run. Because only one person (the smuggler wins). The customer, who gets fooled into buying the wrong system, will be unhappy with it and will be unlikely to ever return to that salesperson or dealer for future business.

As a trainer the smuggler would be the trainer who "passes the buck" of knowledge never taking the time to understand the true goal of what it is they are trying to teach. Whether it is in understanding the company's goals, or keying in on how the information they are teaching will be used in the workplace or at a customer's office... the smuggler is usually clueless to both.

Finally, there are the sleuths of influence, who are more knowledgeable than bunglers, more ethical than smugglers, and overall more successful than either. They approach each influence opportunity as a detective, looking to uncover and use only those principles that are truly part of the situation, and that, therefore, will steer people correctly when to say yes.

So, for instance, if our computer salesperson genuinely was an expert on a particular type of system that a customer was interested in, it would be foolish not to share this information with the customer right at the outset.

The training sleuth, on the other hand approaches each opportunity with a cadet or trainee as a detective looking to uncover hidden motivations and hot buttons that are specific to the individual. It is in understanding these items and relating to them where the true engagement process begins.

To learn more about the power of engagement and how it can instantly change the performance and motivation of your employees, go to: www.cruisecontroltraining.com

When people are engaged, they learn easier and remember much clearer. And if the salesperson, in the above example had been good enough as a detective to find out that one particular system had a unique feature that no other system had, he or she would be a bungler not to say so and make use of this scarcity principle that was a natural part of that situation.

All in all - it's not sufficient to know what the most powerful principles of influence are. We have to train ourselves to search every influence situation for the principles that reside there naturally, and to use only those principles. That way, both parties can benefit.

Our system, OmniTrackPlus (www.omnitrackplus.com/autopilot.htm) is an online training and development system that allows you to put your entire training program, on autopilot. Online training has never been so simple and yet, so effective. With the system's proven, robust automation tools, you have the ability to systematically engage, interact with and influence your trainees... while you sleep.

In Part 2 of this article, we'll begin to dissect the first three principles and what they mean to you as the educator, motivator and cultivator of employees.

About the Author:

George Ritacco is the Director of Client Services for Global Vision Technologies, Inc (GVT)., a premiere software developer specializing in providing cost-effective, easy-to-use Internet systems for training and development, e-learning, sales and marketing intelligence, pharmaceutical sales ops, client management, and case management. GVT's primary goal is to provide business owners, trainers, sales & marketing executives and child welfare organizations with tools for improving productivity, profitability, employee morale and turnover, by allowing organizations to automate many, "time-intensive" administrative functions of their working lives.

Visit http://www.cruisecontroltraining.com for more information about putting your corporate training, on AutoPilot.

Do You Hate Or Maybe Dislike Selling

2009-02-23T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Alan Boyer

Chances are it's because you are trying to sell.

Does that sound sort of strange? Did you think your selling was all about selling? Closing a sale?

Then that's probably the reason. Change your perspective from "selling" to "helping everyone you know get what they want." Your job, your only job is to work with people to help them explore what they want and need, and then helping them get there.

It doesn't matter whether you get the sale or not. What matters is that you are there to help everyone get the results they want. People don't like to buy from salesmen, as a matter of fact, do you remember the last time a salesman called you on the phone? Were you irritated that he called?

Why do you think that is? Is it because a salesman sounds like he is interested in only making a sale, or in his product and not in what the customer wants? Do you think that would change if someone contacted you to see if they just might be able to help you resolve your toughest problems?

Don't move from helper to salesman too fast, or maybe not at all.

I can remember early in my sales career my sales coach telling me to spend more time to find out what the client wants and needs than in "selling." That was hard for me to understand then. I made the same mistakes that I see most of my sales students making today. As soon as I got the prospect to define what he wanted and needed, I would jump back to selling, by saying "I've got the answer to all of your problems. XYZ is the best darned How many do you want?" I was jumping too far too fast.

Your job should never change from helper to salesman, and if it does, you've probably lost a sale, or at least your going to lose more than you should. Watch your success rate, percentage of sales closes/appointments go up. Once you know what the prospect wants and needs, then help him find the solution himself. And if the answer doesn't include you or your product, you've just made a friend that knows he can trust you. Either he will buy from you later, or he knows you and trusts you enough to make a very good referral.

Do you stop trying to close?

Depends on what you mean by close. Remember the goal is to help. So, guide the prospect toward the answers he needs. He will appreciate you for it. Ask things such as, if you need to solve XYZ, then what do you think is the best solution? Your closing should be to get the customer to find his solution. Your job is not to convince him to buy your product. If you've done it right you will be THE solution, or at least one of the solutions that he has discovered for himself.

I always hear a rustling in the back of the peanut gallery when I tell people to get off the "sales" bandwagon and onto the "helpful friend" approach. Since I am the one up in front of the sales training class telling everyone about goals as being one of the most important things you can do for your sales, and clearly defining the number of appointments, and the number of sales we are going to do this week, it is a natural question from the room to ask "And how do I hit those sales goals if I stop selling?

The answer is in the fact: "People buy from people they know and trust, not from salesmen." Your sales will go up when you change from "salesman" to "helpful friend." Your goal should be to meet and help enough people, and, yes, how many can you close is a very important measurement. When I am there to help I see the number of closes go up because I've helped the customer find his own answer.

The sales will follow. If they don't, you're doing it wrong, change it and try again.

Alan Boyer, President/CEO of The Leader's Perspective, LLC http://www.leaders-perspective.com is considered one of the world's leading breakthrough specialists. He has worked with some of the worlds largest companies, on projects in the multi-billion dollar area, and with single proprietor companies. He has worked on many hundreds of projects with companies that have resulted in multi-$100 million savings or gains.

With over 35 years of business, quality, and process experience, he has catapulted businesses lightyears ahead in weeks. Some have doubled and some have jumped 10 times. He claims the key to that is:

Helping the business owners/employees develop the business skills

Helping them overcome the limitations and attitudes that they built between their ears (the self imposed limitations, I can't, this won't work for me, I'm different)

By helping them find the breakthroughs in their business and thinking

He helps companies worldwide reach further than they EVER thought possible.FASTER mailto:AlanBoyer@leaders-perspective.com

Why Salespeople Need To Do More Than Practice Selling

2009-02-22T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Andy Szebeni

The saying goes, "pride come before a fall" and indeed, when it comes to sales and marketing skills for smaller businesses.

The people that most need to improve their sales skills are those who think they don't. Sounds contrary but it is rare to come across someone in a small business that acknowledges their weaknesses in sales and marketing skills and goes out to address it.

We recently conducted some telemarketing for a client that really hit home on this point. The client was offering £1000 funding to smaller business towards investment in the principals or directors. I need to repeat that sum in case you missed it: ONE THOUSAND POUNDS. Now sure, some contribution was required from the prospect company but we need to get clear, this was free money on offer. I thought we would have a tremendous response. As you might have guessed, most companies were either very sceptical or just did not see the value of investing in their major decision makers. I am humble enough to accept that it could have been the quality of my company's telemarketing, but, take my word for it, we tried many different approaches and our telemarketers know a good few persuasive techniques!

Contrast this with my life partner who is a business development director in multinational market research firm. They send her on training courses for soft skills every 6 months or so. Moreover, they were virtually throwing a premium quality business coach at her, even thought she ADMITTED to that coach that she was considering leaving the company so it was probably not a sensible investment! They don't need a £1000 inducement to improve her skills because they know that a few tip and hints that help her win one new piece of business pays for 5 years of training.

Spot the difference between our telemarketing prospects and the market research firm. Now I am not moaning just because one division of my company undertakes sales training and most of our prospects are smaller companies. I say this because improved sales and marketing skills for smaller businesses can really help them leverage their advantages over smaller firms. Having a small motivated workforce makes companies hungry and lean so clients get better value and a can-do attitude backed up with accountability.

I can already hear the legions of directors of small companies reading this who are moaning that they do not have the time, funds to invest or ability to implement the great ideas they may learn. Each of those excuses can be cured by investment in improved time management, delegation and borrowing to help grow the business.

In fact the problem is as much with luddite entrepreneurs as their archane decision-making abilities. So many business groups seem to accept the excuses their members make about not wanting to change successful formulae, IITWWHADI (it is the way we have always done it) or our customers would not stand for us using such new-fangled methods.

This government to its credit has created many schemes to help business and Business Link has some superb people and services to offer start-ups as much as to established ambitious concerns. Sure, there are many valid criticisms of red tape but smaller firms DO have many places they can turn to. But again, I have lost count of Business Link representatives and their equivalent that complain that they have the funds but can't easily find the serious clients. I have associations with the Prince's Trust and they have an excess of volunteers over young people coming forward to claim up to £5000 funding for a business along with the support of an experienced business mentor.

And let us not forget the rash of business networking groups that now exist. In fact, we visit various groups and there is a marked contrast in the types of membership. Some groups actively solicit free training and develop the sales and marketing skills of their members. But the other 90% of groups perfectly illustrate the stick-in-the-mud attitude to improving the way they bring in new business. The irony that so many members have joined dynamic networking groups, only to refuse to change they way they approach prospects or change their thinking, is startling.

So let this be a rallying call to all small businesses, entrepreneurs and sole proprietors: get off your bums and seek out new sales and marketing skills. No-one else is going to do it for you and there is a wealth of resource out there to generate you double digit growth next year.

Andy Szebeni is director of sales training and telemarketing company A&P. For more information and free tips and hints go to http://www.a-and-p.com.

Invite Questions To Boost Your Sales

2009-02-21T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Bob Leduc

Do you invite your prospective customers to ask questions ...or do you try to avoid getting questions from them? You're walking away from a lot of easy sales if you don't encourage prospects to ask questions.

1. Prospects Who Ask Questions Are Usually Ready To Buy

Prospective customers who take the time to ask questions usually have a high level of interest in your product or service. By asking questions they identify themselves as likely buyers.

A prompt and complete answer to their question along with a gentle reminder of the benefits they will get is usually all it takes to close the sale.

Tip: Make it easy for prospects to ask questions when they are at your web site or in other selling situations where there is no personal contact. For example, list your phone number or an email address they can use for questions.

2. Set up A Procedure for Managing Questions

Answering questions from prospects does not have to take a lot of your time. Many of the same questions will be repeated over and over again. But you only have to answer each question once ...if you save the answer to each question to a permanent file.

Every time you get the same question again, just copy the answer from your saved file into your reply - and customize it appropriately. You will be able to answer questions quickly. And you will impress prospects with your promptness and personal attention.

3. Always Reply Promptly

Answer questions promptly. Your prospect's level of interest and your chances of getting the sale will decline as time passes without a reply. Prospects are also likely to judge your commitment to serving customers by how long they waited to get the answer to their question.

Tip: If you find yourself personally answering a lot of questions, add a Questions and Answers page to your web site - or to your printed sales material. Include the answers to your most frequently asked questions. This reduces the number of questions you have to answer individually.

4. Take Advantage of the Selling Opportunity

People tend to pay close attention to what you say when you answer a specific question they asked. Take advantage of this. Don't just answer their question. Include a reason for them to buy as part of your answer.

For example, a typical question may be whether or not your product or service applies to the questioner's situation. If it does, expand your answer to remind them of the specific benefits they will get. Then tell them exactly how to order it so they can get those benefits immediately.

Remember, prospective customers who ask questions are usually close to buying. A gentle nudge from you will often get them to take action. Provide that nudge when you answer their question.

Many businesses try to avoid questions from their prospects and customers. They are making an expensive mistake. Answering questions from prospects and customers is a highly effective and very low-cost way to boost sales.

Bob Leduc spent 20 years helping businesses like yours find new customers and increase sales. He just released a New Edition of his manual, How To Build Your Small Business Fast With Simple Postcards ...and launched *BizTips from Bob*, a newsletter to help small businesses grow and prosper. You'll find his low-cost marketing methods at: http://BobLeduc.com or call: 702-658-1707 After 10 AM Pacific Time/Las Vegas, NV

Invest Time In A Night On The Town

2009-02-20T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Tom Richard

A few years ago, I had the pleasure of spending some time in Charlotte, North Carolina training with the great Jeffrey Gitomer, author of The Little Red Book of Selling. As our time together came to a close, I had one last question for Jeffrey.

I asked him, "If you were just starting out in the sales training business, knowing what you know now, what advice would you give yourself? After thinking a moment, Jeffrey answered confidently, "Spend your time getting in front of people who can say 'yes' to you."

Seems simple, but for some reason, many salespeople don't understand this basic principle. Some salespeople will actually pass on a great networking function because they can't afford to lose "time out of the field."

Well, friends, the profession of sales is nothing more than a people business. Getting known in your market is what success in sales is all about. Stop wasting so much time "in the field" and use that time to get in front of people. Invest time getting to know people, getting to be known by people, and building relationship with more people than your competition. The more people you know and who know you, the more sales you make.

How much of your time, in any given week, are you investing in front of people? Fifty percent? Seventy-five percent? Have you ever really sat down and thought about it? How many new people do you meet each week? How many of these people have the ability to say "yes" to you?

Instead of seeking out opportunities to put yourself in front of people, you spend your time filling out reports, sitting in meetings, walking into cold lobbies and talking to cold receptionists.

Take a new approach with your business. Spend your time getting in front of the people who have the ability to say 'yes' to you. I'll let you in on a little secret: these people do not spend their days and nights locked in their office waiting for you to infiltrate their well-guarded lair. They are out in the community attending the same type of events that you haven't had the brains to attend.

The people who can say "yes" to you go to the baseball games, they go to hear the symphony, they have health club memberships, they are members of the Chamber, they attend business workshops, they participate in charity functions, and they belong to the Rotary. Wasting your time "in the field" means that you are missing great opportunities that would make your job of getting known a heck of a lot easier.

Salespeople don't attend these types of networking events because they don't realize how valuable the opportunity is. They don't understand how powerful just one newly-made friendship can be for your business. Or, worse, they are too lazy to invest in their business outside of the 9-5 workweek.

Well, welcome to the real world. In the real world, you make more friends and do more business outside of work than you do within it. Because sales is a people business, every sale begins with a relationship. You can not build a relationship by being a strange voice on the other end of a cold call. You make sales relationships in the same places you make real friendships.

So take yourself to a ballgame and see how many people you know or can get to know. Take your wife to the symphony and do the same. In fact, take yourself to any event in town where forty or more people are gathered. Just put yourself out there and start mingling. You'll be surprised at the number of people you meet, and what they can do for your business.

Tom Richard conducts seminars on sales and customer service topics nationwide. Tom is also the author of Smart Salespeople Don't Advertise: 10 Ways to Outsmart Your Competition With Guerilla Marketing, and publishes a free weekly ezine on selling skills titled Sales Muscle. To subscribe to this free weekly ezine go to http://www.tomrichard.com/subscribe

Closing Techniques To Make You More Money

2009-02-19T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Kurt Mortensen

Closing skills will be a great persuasive tool to get under your belt, and the sooner you do so the better. Remember, as the salespersonwhether you're selling a product or trying to get your teenager to understand your point of viewyou are in an advisory role. You are your prospect's advocate. The more you can operate in her/his best interest, the more s/he will sense this and agree to your input. The closing skills you have learned in this chapter will help you to persuade more effectively. Now, knowing the process, you will understand what is happening each step of the way and you will intuitively recognize where to guide your prospect. When you get these skills down, you will be pleasantly surprised that effective persuasion is an easy, fun and natural process.

In the beginning, you will experience moments of awkwardness when you forget exactly what to say or do. There will also be times when your prospects will throw you for a loop and you won't remember how to respond. When this happens, don't be too hard on yourself. As time goes on, you'll experience a natural learning curve. Just make note of areas you'd like to strengthen and work on them along the way. This kind of conscientious attention will soon help you hone and polish your selling abilities. After every sales attempt, take the time to analyze the situation. What did you do well? What could you have done better?

1. Direct closeSimply ask for the sale. "Shall we get the process going for you?" "Sounds like a great fit! Are you ready to move forward?" "Let's get the ball rolling, OK?"

2. Assumption closeRather than ask if your prospect wants to move forward or not, assume the sale and give her/him a choice of one option or another. This closing technique solidifies the sale. For example, "Would you like the blue or the green?" "Do you want it delivered, or will you be picking it up?" "Will that be cash or charge?"

3. Take-away closeWhen your prospect hesitates, say, "Just a minutelet me make sure we have this in your size." "Let me see if we have this item in stock." "Let me check with my manager." "This product is not appropriate for you." Closing strategies like these create the impulse to move ahead with the purchase so your prospects don't forfeit their opportunity.

4. Summary closeRestate the list of benefits your prospects have cited as important to them and list them in order of priority. This closing strategy confirms and validates in your prospect's mind all the valid reasons for the purchase. It also shows your prospect that you have been attentive and understand her/his needs.

5. Puppy-dog closeLet your prospects touch, taste, feel and experience the product or service as much as possible. Put them in the actual situation, either literally or through helping them create a vivid imaginary experience. This closing strategy helps the prospect become attached.

6. Procon closeWalk the prospect through the thinking process. On a piece of paper, draw a line down the middle and write down factors that help your prospects compare and contrast how many more pros your product has than cons. This closing strategy is excellent for analytical personalities.

7. Order-sheet closeFill in the order sheet from the start of the conversation. This closing strategy reinforces a subconscious commitment on your prospects' part. If they hesitate, explain that the form just helps you get all the details. In completing the form, be clear on what your prospects are looking for. Assure them that if they aren't ready to make a decision, the order form will not be processed.

8. The relevant-story closePeople think in terms of stories. Relate to your prospects the experience of another client in a similar situation who moved forward and was very happy with her/his decision. This closing strategy also works in the reverse: someone who did not purchase and later regretted it.

9. Ascending closePose a series of questions to your prospects that will all elicit a "yes" response and lead to the point of purchase as the obvious step to take. This closing strategy reinforces subconscious affirmation of the product's benefits and ability to meet your prospects' needs. "Yeses" increase desire, while "nos" decrease desire.

10. Reduce-to-the-ridiculous closeBreak down your product's costs into minute units: "For a mere 22 cents a day, you can enjoy the benefits of our product." "You can change your life by investing only 50 cents a day."

11. Real-reason closeAfter you have tried everything, thank your prospects for their time. They will then sense that the exchange is ending, so their resistance will subside. Ask your prospect something like this: "Mr. Smith, I tried to present the information the best I knew how. What is the real reason you did not buy today?" After receiving an answer, see if you can address the concern and re-close.

Last but not least, remember that in this process, everyone wins. Salespeople are what make the world turn. You will often be the one who nudges a person just enough so that s/he'll take action. There are countless things that would remain undone if it were not for a sales rep's guidance and instruction. In the end, your prospect is happy because you gave her/him the courage to act, and you're happy because you know you've made a difference.

Kurt W. Mortensen is one of America's leading authorities on persuasion, motivation and influence. Kurt spent 15 years researching personal development and motivational psychology and is currently a professor on the university level. He offers his speaking, training, and consulting programs nationwide, helping thousands achieve unprecedented success in business and personal endeavors. Kurt is author of Maximum Influence a bestseller and is endorsed by Stephen R. Covey, Brian Tracy, Robert Allen, and Mark Victor Hansen. Go to http://www.prewealth.com/iq to find out where you rank in your ability to persuade or email askkurt@persuasioninsitute.com

Elearning Hype Or Hip

2009-02-18T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Quintus Joubert

Many times customers and potential customers ask me whether eLearning is just a passing fad. This is an excellent question that warrants some discussion. My experience with eLearning and more especially with custom eLearning content development has been an extremely positive one. Unfortunately some companies are dismissing the concept of eLearning because they have had a negative experience with it. Recently, I came across a discussion on the Support Insight discussion forum that described eLearning as a hyped solution to training.

I have had the opportunity to speak to many people about their experience with eLearning and the majority of skeptics and naysayer have one thing in common. Predominantly they have all had a negative experience with the development of training materials. The common theme that I have seen is that most of the development work was done without completing a thorough needs analysis. In addition, many companies are guilty of selecting an eLearning vendor without doing the necessary research about what the industry offers and what criteria they should use when selecting an eLearning vendor. The product offerings in the eLearning industry are extremely diverse as are the skills and experience that eLearning vendors' possess.

It is important to determine what your needs as a customer is and what role vendor selection will play in your ultimate success or failure. I would recommend that you read my short white paper entitled 'Selecting an eLearning vendor: A guide to making an informed decision', that describes the most important considerations that need to be made when selecting an eLearning vendor. I can't stress how important needs analysis is to developing successful eLearning materials such as customized interactive eLearning courses, multimedia reference materials or analytical technical toolkits. Unfortunately many customers don't take the time to think about what their needs and objectives are. In addition they often select eLearning developers who overlook this step or do a cursory high level needs analysis focused primarily on selling bells and whistles to the customer, rather than focusing on the customer's business needs and limitations. Yes, it is important to note that eLearning does have limitations, primarily driven by the fact that not all customers are equal when it comes to technology. This limitation is an important consideration when you are considering eLearning as a training method.

The initial needs assessment should identify the objectives of the eLearning program, course, materials and who will be using it. How will they access the materials? What technology will they be using? Does it make sense to include interactive bandwidth-intensive elements such as video and audio? Unfortunately, some eLearning content developers overlook these considerations and as a result develop a solution that disappoints the customer. This then results in the failure being laid at the door of eLearning, rather than at the door of the actual eLearning vendor and the customer.

Developing an eLearning project has to be done by building a relationship with an eLearning vendor that has extensive experience in the industry. eLearning is not a silver bullet that can solve all of your training needs. In many cases eLearning can not eliminate the need for face to face training. In these cases eLearning can compliment on site training as part of a blended learning approach.

In most companies there will be people that will resist any computer based instruction. In fact, all companies have people who resist any change as a rule. You must recognize this threat to the development of any eLearning materials prior to beginning any projects and realize that you will need to identify a champion, project sponsor and department leaders that can assist you in mitigating and mediating any resistance to new training initiatives.

An easy way to mitigate any initial resistance in your corporation to new eLearning initiatives is to focus on quick wins. This is a great way to demonstrate the value of a new eLearning initiative and to develop a good working relationship with your eLearning vendor. Many companies try to focus on the areas with the most complicated needs first. In my opinion this is a bad approach that can only end in disaster. Remember keep your first project simple!

Start by focusing on areas where there is a need and where there are existing training materials within your organization. It is a lot easier to create a customized interactive training course from existing sources such as PowerPoint presentations developed by subject matter experts (SME's), lessons learnt documents, case studies and standard operating procedures (SOP's) as opposed to starting from scratch. It is amazing how much information you will find when you start looking within your organization. Admittedly most of the materials that you will find are informational only and would need to be structured and redeveloped into an interactive format that ensures knowledge retention. Having said this it is much easier, less time consuming and resource intensive to use existing information within your company rather than attempting to reinvent the wheel. Remember focus on quick wins that will impart essential knowledge to a select group of your final overall target audience and demonstrate the value of your endeavor. eLearning is a valuable training tool as long as it is approached in a manner that keeps your ultimate objectives, limitations, corporate political landscape and possibilities in mind. Like any other tool the final result is dependent on the skill of the operator. eLearning can have extremely positive results within your organization including saving you time and money paid for onsite training often involving travel, increased productivity, self-paced learning and maximized ROI. However, positive results require foresight and a good working relationship between the content developer, customer project manager/owner and the project sponsor/champion. We would be happy to assist you with any of the questions that you have. Even if you are only at the initial needs assessment stage, we would be happy to discuss your eLearning development options with you.

Quintus is the Director of Business Development for Cyber Media Creations. His Business Development duties and responsibilities include all sales, marketing and business development initiatives. In addtion, Quintus is responsible for project management of larger projects and as such his duties and responsibilities include customer needs assessment and overall project management throughout product lifecycle; storyboard and development mockup design; content development (audio and structuring; prototype feedback to developers; course and program testing and the development implementation of standard business documentation for all customer contracts/ agreements and project management documentation.

Quintus brings a unique global perspective to Cyber Media Creations' training approach.

Home: http://www.cybermediacreations.com

Company profile: http://cybermediacreations.com/elearning/eLearning_company_profiles_CMC.pdf

How Has Selling Changed Since The Nineties

2009-02-17T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Jonathan Farrington

The traditional customer call once seemed indispensable to the selling process; the time and expense involved were just a basic cost of doing business. In recent years, however, the business community has come to regard the sales call as an expenditure for which there are substitutes. For many companies telemarketing and direct mail have made the sales call a choice not an inevitability. This is not surprising when various studies suggest that getting one sales person in front of one customer now costs £500 - this cost has trebled since 1983. As a consequence professional salespeople have to be more effective than ever to justify the investment in a face to face effort.

In essence, we can draw seven primary conclusions and taken together, these findings paint a picture of the current state of the sales environment.

Customer Focus Creates Competitive Advantage

The one term that sets top performers apart - customer focus
Outstanding sales results depend on
- The ability to think from the customer's point of view
- Understanding the customer's agenda, buying cycle and best interests
Beyond a superficial reading of immediate customer needs, salespeople must gain a deeper understanding of both the buyer's long-term goals and the overall business climate
At the heart of customer focus is the art of listening constructively - the best salespeople are masters at capturing information
Customer focus means taking the customer seriously - to-day the salesperson who clings to the product orientation of a decade ago is losing ground
As client companies branch into new markets and unfamiliar territories, they are demanding unique, flexible solutions from their vendors - customised to support specific goals
Another myth which can be exploded is that whilst customers value flexibility, being too flexible can undermine the sales relationship. On the whole salespeople imagine that customers value a vendor's responsiveness above all. However recent research shows that their primary concern is reliability.

In summary, in order to maintain customer focus the best salespeople become facilitators, creating a partnership that extends the selling relationship within the customer's company. The motivation to achieve this should be strong - it costs five times as much to attract and sell to a new customer as it does to an existing one!

The right to do business has to be earned and never assumed.
Rather than doggedly asking for the business, the very best sales people work to keep the relationship moving towards a sale. They realise the need to identify how to turn their company's products into real solutions, which must meet specific needs. Unfortunately, our surveys confirm that the average salesperson drags the customer over old ground as much as 52% of the time - they are unable to provide continuous stimulation and never know when to treat an existing customer like a new one.

Conversely, exceptional salespeople only make such 'return' calls for 10% of the time. Above all, earning the right to proceed requires gaining the customer's trust and top salespeople work diligently to establish a climate in which the customer is willing to share information and feels comfortable doing so. The key here is integrity.

Customers are persuaded when they are part of the process and not part of the audience.
Sales success to-day demands a radical shift from the 'peddler' mentality of merely demonstrating products and expanding on their features. It requires treating the customer as a participant. More often than not, a 'flashy' sales presentation alone alienates rather than persuades

The best salespeople regard the sales call as a two-way conversation - not a one sided pitch. They have developed active listening skills Average salespeople score fairly well in their ability to provide customers with facts and figures, but top performers dramatically outscore the rest when it comes to gathering information. In addition, how a salesperson collects information still distinguishes exceptional achievers from the rest of the pack. I.e. top performers ask better questions and as a result gain much better information. Essentially, they aim to engage customers in the buying process with questions that require thoughtful answers, that stimulate curiosity and that reveal the customers underlying needs

Businesses need to re-define selling and what constitutes basic selling skills.
In to-day's world of selling, there is less and less room for apprenticeship. Selling has become an exclusive club of highly skilled professionals where product knowledge and time management skills, for instance, are the cost of membership not leadership.

Ongoing research demonstrates that to-day's 'average' salesperson is just as effective as the high performer in explaining features and benefits effectively, relating a service or product to customer needs and closing a sale. But, above this Level 1 plateau of competence, the exceptional salesperson is busy defining the "basic skills of tomorrow".

Building an up-to-date foundation in sales competence does mean sacrificing some old notions of what it takes to succeed in a competitive marketplace. For example, a salesperson can no longer just "win by knowing". Every company needs to test their assumptions about what skills really contribute to sales success. Too often operating on old sales theories means training and rewarding people to do the wrong things.

When the buyer and seller act as partners, they are building a bridge to profitability.
Successful selling is definitely not about the "hit and run" sale. Sales achievers regard their relationships with key customers as a partnership and cultivate it as such. When customers face tough business challenges and complex technological choice, they rely on sales people who can assist them in making the right decisions.

The primary objective of a sales partnership has to be, to create and sustain a mutually productive relationship, which serves the needs of both parties, now and in the future. The key word here is symbiotic. Partnership does not mean eliminating the tension between buyer and seller; it means that top-performing salespeople know how to strike a balance between achieving immediate results and developing the relationship fully.

Strategic selling begins in the boardroom
In most industries to-day, a handful of ideal customers have become universal targets. Nearly every industrial salesperson dreams of calling on the CEO's or managing directors of those top companies, which logically means that there are maybe 500 customers for a million sellers. With such intense competition, conventional approaches are not equal to the challenge. Salespeople need to develop strategies that distinguish their products, services and their organisations in the mind of the customer.

Making a sale has always involved an element of systematic planning but strategic selling means more than rehearsing product information and timing the close. Strategic selling begins with understanding your company's strategy, vision, and distinctiveness and then selecting high profile customers.

The next step, logically, is anticipating each stage of the buying process, from analysing the competition to identifying the influencers and decision-makers and being switched in to the buyer's political issues. In other words, there is a need for a comprehensive strategic profile and rigorous opportunity assessment process. Most important, strategic selling means strategising from the customer's point of view. Top achievers see strategic selling as a routine part of their work - not a final resort.

What are the implications for sales management?
For companies to remain competitive now, their sales organisation must be able to respond positively to changing economic tides. As businesses strive to establish customer orientation, sales partnerships and a strategic approach to selling, they are demanding more and more from their salespeople but ensuring that these new methods are widely practised and smoothly implemented falls to sales management

Building productivity
Sales productivity is a strategic issue. That's why problems in this area stem from salespeople being unclear about their company's priorities i.e. what their message should be and what they should be selling.

The trend in industry of removing layers of management between the sale force and the general manager presents a challenge to those sales managers who remain. To begin with, the sales manager becomes an essential link between company strategy and what takes place in the customer's office. He or she must not only grasp the corporate vision but be able to communicate it to the sales force in terms of the real effects on sales practices

Creating direction
Sales managers with an intimate feel for the selling process succeed because their staff regard them as part of the sales team but coaching the team is as important as playing in it. In other words, sales managers must be prepared to provide training, feedback and support to every individual within the team.

Once committed to the training process, they must routinely reinforce new ways of behaving in real sales situations. They must provide a clear sense of direction on a daily basis, not just at the monthly sales meeting / quarterly review / annual appraisal

The very best sales managers engage in frequent coaching and feedback, even when their sales people work in remote locations. While encouraging salespeople to air their problems openly and discuss their concerns, sales managers must be able to offer clear and specific feedback for improving sales performance

Rewarding change
The sales manager is charged with translating the company's reward system into specific improvements in sales performance. Both salespeople and corporate managers count on the sales manager to recognise and reward outstanding achievement, formally and informally.

The process of promoting new attitudes about the customer and the role of the salesperson can be frustrating and slow. Reverting back to recent research there is compelling evidence to suggest that companies will see results sooner if they recognise and reward salespeople - "you get more of the behaviour and results that you reward".

The trend in sales compensation appears to be away from commission to guaranteed salary, from compensation based on orders to compensation based on delivery and sign-off. Interestingly some organisations we know, base their 'salesperson of the year' award on the basis of customer satisfaction or customer retention rather than sheer volume of orders or activity

Why Do We Need A Fresh Approach To Selling?
Many organisations have developed without objective analysis of their purpose and structure. The buying power in many industries is no longer evenly distributed - in a large number of markets a few big firms control the majority of purchases.

The development of new marketing techniques has meant that some tasks traditionally performed by the sales team can be more effectively handled by other methods. The prime objective of all sales staff is to gain business. From an organisational point of view, however, how they all achieve their goals must be defined in order to identify what kind and the quality of skills that are required.

Summary And Now the Good News
It is now a given fact in any sales-related seminar or conference you may attend that traditional sales methods are being relegated to the annals of history. The new, more discerning customers of today have seen to that. They now wield greater bargaining power, demand more value for money and have become more knowledgeable and professional when it comes to decision-making. Suppliers are now faced with rising customer expectations and the need to become more flexible to the requirements of each individual client.

Yet the key to differentiation lies within these expectations, since more complex buying decisions lead customers to value closer links with their suppliers.

Read more sales related articles written by Jonathan here:

http://www.jonathanfarrington.com/Articles.htm

The moral right of the author, Jonathan Farrington, has been asserted. All rights reserved. This publication or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system or otherwise, unless this notification of copyright is retained.

Jonathan Farrington is a business coach, mentor, author and consultant, who has helped hundreds of companies and thousands of individuals around the world achieve their full potential and consequently, optimum performance levels.

http://www.jonathanfarrington.com

6 Secrets To Increase Sales

2009-02-16T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Deborah Cast

Every business is striving for an advantage over their competitors. A simple and very refreshing one is good manners. Small business can implement this quickly and benefit most from this.

Business for good and bad has become more casual.

Where decades ago every one was call Mr. and Mrs./Ms., today everyone is known by their first names.

Instead of having a casual day, business are now casual everyday and you MAY only dress up for an important client.

In a time when everyone is being more and more casual, a great small business competitive edge is improving your manners and your dress.

This is an easy way to distinguish yourself from your competitors, make it easy for them to buy from you, and easy for them to work with you.

Here are some things to help you get ahead in today's environment:

Do remember that gatekeepers count.

This is one of the most important positions. Always be polite to the person who answers the phone. The gatekeeper is your key to getting to the decision makers. The best idea is to treat them as if they were the decision makers. In many cases, the gatekeeper helps makes the decisions or depending on the product - IS the decision maker.

Do be respectful of their time.

Everyone leads very busy lives. Make sure you ask how much time the person has for your call or the meeting. Try to limit yourself to this timeframe. When the timeframe is up, you can ask if the person would like to keep going or if they would like to set up another meeting to continue.

If you are running late for a meeting, call and let the person know. You may have to reschedule. Just don't show up late and expect them to change their schedule to accommodate you. In

fact, it is best to come early. You can learn a lot about your client and the organization by observing things while you wait.

Do place cell phones, pagers, PDAs and BlackBerries on hold.

Checking messages or taking calls during a meeting makes the client/prospect feel there is someone more important than them. They can also interrupt a critical portion of the meeting - for example if you are negotiating. When you are with a client make sure they feel they are the only one that is important to you. If you are waiting for a critical call, let your client know in advance. When the call comes in, excuse yourself from the room and try to make it as short as possible.

Do learn proper table manners.

Don't argue over the check. If you invite someone to dinner, you are paying. If you or your guest wants to pay - one pays this time, one pays next time. Also be mindful of what you are ordering. Try not to order the most expensive or the cheapest.

It is best to mimic the price range of your guest.

Don't order alcohol unless your guest orders it. Don't talk with food in your mouth. Try to limit business talk while you are eating. Talk business before the food arrives or at the end. If business is discussed while eating, someone always misses eating their food.

Do answer emails and voice mail.

This includes, acknowledging receipt of reports and information. If you do not have the time to respond back in full to any questions or with the information requested, send a short note or make a quick phone call letting the other party know you will be responding and when to expect it.

Do use proper language.

Do not use profanity or tell off color jokes in meetings with prospects or clients. If you do say something that might be taken as offensive, apologize immediately.

Remember the basics - like saying Thank You, Your Welcome and Please.

Does it pay off?

At a conference recently we had a woman come by and sit by us. She had watched and noticed how nice we were being to those around us. She thought it was refreshing and wanted to learn more about us and what we did. We weren't even exhibiting.

We were attending just like her.

So yes, it does work!

OTB Strategic Consulting, Inc. is run by successful business people with decades of experience in successful ventures. Our latest ventures include business consulting and financial consulting firms. Members of OTB are business, sales/marketing and financial experts, seminar speakers and authors of the ebook/course, Business Consulting for Small Businesses, and the newsletter, Small Business Authority Newsletter. To get your free subscription and free reports including 10 Major Pitfalls Every Business Must Avoid, visit http://www.otbstrategic.com or http://www.megabusinessconsulting.com.

7 Keys To Turning Cold Calls Into Warm Calls

2009-02-15T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Ari Galper

Let's face it when it comes to cold calling many of us fear being rejected. What if I was to tell you I have come up with 7 keys to turning your cold calls into warm calls? Would you believe me?

Try these 7 cold calling ideas for yourself and see just how easy making a cold call can really be.

1. Change Your Mental Objective Before You Make Your Call

When making a cold call the traditional way, your main objective is usually to try and get the appointment or make the sale. The main problem with that is when you do make the call it is quite clear to the person on the other end of the phone that this is your goal and they usually think of an excuse to get you off the phone before they have a chance to hear what you have to say.

To turn your cold calls into warm calls you need to change your objective to creating a feeling of trust with the person you are calling. It is important to remember that the person you are calling needs to feel that you are calling to help them rather than just trying to make the sale.

2. Understand The Mindset of The Person Your Calling

This is an extremely important tip and one that can help you greatly with your cold calling success. By putting yourself in the mindset of the person you are about to call, you can move beyond making a sales pitch.

Imagine that you are that person receiving the call and you hear "Hello, my name is Clare and I'm with a company called Financial Solutions International, do you have a few minutes?" What would be your immediate reaction?

You'd probably think "Salesperson! How can I get them off the phone." Instead, try beginning your conversation with "Hi, my name is Clare, maybe you can help me out for a moment?" Something as simple as that puts you smack in the middle of your prospect's world of welcoming phone calls.

3. Identify A Problem That Your Company Can Solve

Knowing a specific problem that your prospect is having is how you can immediately create a natural conversation on the phone.

If your prospect feels that you really do understand their particular issues, then they are more open to hearing your solutions giving you the opportunity to see if you both are a good match.

Identifying the problem before you make your cold call really can make a major difference in the success of your cold call.

4. Start A Conversation, Don't Give A Presentation

Giving a presentation is the old traditional way of cold calling which has the negative affect of creating sales pressure and viewing people as "prospects".

Engaging people in a natural conversation is the only way to avoid rejection because you are relaxed as if you are talking to a friend. A genuine approach will always put your potential customer at ease from the start.

Never assume beforehand that your prospective customer should buy what you have to offer. Your prospect will pick up on this right away and you will be on your way to losing the sale.

5. Start By Asking A Question

After your opening cold calling statement, always begin by asking a question about how you can help them solve issues that you believe your solution can solve.

Think about it, how would you respond if someone genuinely knew what you were struggling with and had ideas to solve it?

By basing your cold call on honesty and truthfulness and knowing how to engage your prospect based on their issues, then all of a sudden your call becomes a two-way dialogue rather than a one-way pitch.

You will be able to open up a conversation and be able to build up trust at the same time.

6. Recognising and Diffusing Hidden Pressures

By being able to recognise hidden sales pressure you can turn your calls into pleasant conversations. And be aware, that enthusiasm can make your prospects feel pressure from you.

Learning to engage in a natural conversation can alleviate this pressure and leave your client open to the idea of hearing what you have to say.

Try to avoid controlling your calls in a way where your prospect feels you are taking them down a sales process. Give them a chance to share their concerns with you without having to worry about you trying to "close" them.

7. Determining A Fit

Let's say your call is going great and the dialogue is flowing well but the conversation is reaching its natural end. What do you do next?

Most people who sell assume they should try and close the person to an appointment. But there is a risk in that if the person's problem isn't a priority to solve. So it's important that you first ask "Is this issue a priority to solve or is it something that's on the back burner?"

Not only have you determined a need but you will also determine a time frame. This could save you months of wasted "follow-up" calls.

Now it's time to start putting these tips into practice. From personal experience, I can tell you that you if use these ideas on your cold calls, you'll know how to turn cold calls into warm calls.

Ari Galper makes cold calling painless and simple. Learn his cold calling secrets that even the sales gurus don't know. To receive your 10 free audio mini-lessons visit http://www.Unlock-The-Cold-Calling-Game.com

Cognitive Dissonance And Public Commitment

2009-02-14T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Kurt Mortensen

Public commitments and dissonance go hand in hand. Even when we feel an action is not right, we still go through with it if we have publicly committed to such a course of action.

The more public our stand, the more reluctant we are to change it. A now famous experiment conducted in 1955 by Morton Deutsch and Harold Gerard demonstrates this principle. A group of students were divided into three groups. Each group viewed some lines and had to estimate their length. The students in the first group had to privately write down estimates, sign their names to it, and hand it in. The second group of students also had to privately write down their estimates on a Magic Writing Pad. They could lift the plastic cover on their notepad and their figures would instantaneously disappear. The third group of students did not write down their estimates but just kept them privately in their minds. Not surprisingly, even when new information was presented contradicting their estimates, the students who had written down their estimates, signed their names to them, and handed them in remained the most committed to their choices, while those who had never committed anything to writing were the most readily swayed to change their responses

Procedures, customs, and traditions are often specifically established for the purposes of creating psychological commitment. Consider fraternity initiations, military boot camps, political rallies, protest marches, and demonstrations. When we make our vows, beliefs, statements, or endeavors public, we feel bound to them. We can back out on commitments and claims we've made public, but we will pay a psychological and emotional price. What's more, the more public we made those commitments, the greater the emotional price tag will be.

A pair of researchers, Elliot Aronson and Judson Mills, claimed that "persons who go through a great deal of trouble or pain to attain something tend to value it more highly than persons who attain the same thing with a minimum of effort." Additional research confirmed their assertion when coeds who were required to endure pain rather than embarrassment to get into a group desired membership more than their counterparts. In one particular case, the more pain one young woman endured as part of her initiation, the more she later tried to convince herself that "her new group and its activities were interesting, intelligent, and desirable.

Another study of 54 tribal cultures found that those with the most dramatic initiation rituals also have the most unity and commitment, and these groups oppose any attempts to undermine or destroy these customs, which render so much strength to their tribe and their culture.

Understanding the psychology of commitment through publicity can be used to bring about good societal changes. Many organizations exist to help individuals conquer bad habits, patterns, or abuses. For example, weight-loss centers commonly encourage clients to share their goals with as many friends, relatives, and neighbors as they can, understanding that this public commitment and pressure often works when other methods don't.

An experiment conducted by Pallak used an interviewer who offered free energy-saving hints to natural gas users. Those residents who agreed to try to conserve energy would have their names publicized in newspaper articles as public-spirited, fuel-conserving citizens. The effect was immediate. One month later, when the utility companies checked their meters, the homeowners in the publication sample had each saved an average of 422 cubic feet of natural gas, a decrease of 12.2 percent. The chance to have their names in the paper had motivated these residents to put forth substantial conservation efforts for a period of one month.

Even during the months when their names weren't in the paper, the families continued to conserve gas. When a letter went out stating that their names would no longer be printed in the paper, the families did not return to their previous wasteful energy usage, as was expected; rather, they continued to conserve energy.

The Sales Trainee

2009-02-13T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Jacques Werth

A young guy from New Jersey moves to California and goes to a big "everything under one roof" department store looking for a job. Instead of going to the Human Resources Department, he asks to see the store manager. He tells the manager that he wants a sales job: He can quickly determine if a shopper is a real buyer, and he can close most of the Buyers.

The manager says, "Do you have any sales experience?"

The young guy says, "Yeah, I was a garden equipment salesman back home in New Jersey."

Well, the manager liked the way the young guy spoke, so he offered to put him on trial for a few days as a Sales Trainee. "Start tomorrow. Just report to the floor manager on level one. I'll come down after we close and see how you did."

His first day on the job was rough, but he got through it. After the store closed, the store manager came down. "How many sales did you make today?"

"Just One."

The boss says, "Just one? Our salespeople average 20 or 30 sales a day, with an average gross of about $1,500 each. How much was your one sale for?

The new guy says, "$111,447.23."

"Over one hundred thousand dollars? What the heck did you sell?"

"First, I sold him a small fishing hook. Then, I sold him a large fishing hook. Then he bought a new fishing rod and reel.

When I asked him where he was going fishing, he said, "down off of Costa Mesa". So, I asked him if he wanted to have his own boat down there. He said 'Yes,' so we went down to the boat department and I sold him that twin engine 21 foot Starcraftt with a trailer.

But, his Honda Civic couldn't pull the boat, so I took him down to the automotive department, where he traded in the Honda on a 4X4 Chevy Suburban."

The manager said, "A guy came in here to buy a fish hook and you sold him a boat and SUV?"

The new Senior Sales Representative says, "No ... I forgot about the Tampons. He came in to buy a box of tampons for his wife, and I said, "Well, your weekend is shot, how would you like to go fishing?"

Hopefully, you're smiling. Now, think about it: Wouldn't it be great if you could learn to spot a Dream Prospect like the one in the story? Fewer sales with much higher Gross Revenues sounds good, doesn't it?

It's time to stop daydreaming, and time to learn how to sell like our young hero. Get started NOW!

Jacques Werth, author of "High Probability Selling," is an internationally respected Sales Trainer and Sales Consultant. HPS graduates are excelling as Top Producers in over 70 industries. Visit http://www.highprobsell.com to read more articles, preview the book, and learn more about High Probability Selling.

Sell Yourself As Well As Your Product

2009-02-12T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Jay Conners

When selling a product to a consumer, one of the things we tend to overlook, is that it is as equally important to sell ourselves.

A consumer wants to know that the person behind the product believes in what they are saying, and they want to be convinced that the person making the presentation would use this product themselves.

Not to long ago, I went to get my oil changed at one of those fifteen minute quick lubes you might find along a major highway.

I watched the mechanic as he pulled my car into the bay and began to prep my car for the oil change.

Not long after I had begun reading my magazine, the mechanic came into the waiting area, and asked me to step outside so he could go over a few things in reference to my car.

While standing under the hood, gazing down at my car engine, the mechanic began to explain to me, that due to the high mileage on my car, it would be in my best interest to have my transmission fluid changed.

This made sense, however, the entire time he was explaining, he never once looked at me, only the engine, as though he was speaking to the car and not to me.

He than began to explain the process of changing the transmission fluid. He began by telling me that some part of the transmission would be "TOOKEN" off.

Stop! Hold everything!

"TOOKEN"

When I heard this word come out of the mechanics mouth, a red flag went up.

My first thought was, "tooken" is not a word in the English language.

I very politely declined any further work on my vehicle. After all, I had only come in for an oil change.

I did appreciate the fact that the mechanic took the time to point out these possible problems with my car, and although he sold me on the transmission fluid change, he did not sell himself, and lost me on the sale.

The point to take into consideration is that a minor flaw, perhaps one you don't even know exists, can make all the difference in your sales presentation. One small chink in your armor can loose you the sale.

If that mechanic had looked me in the eye, and used the word "taken" instead of "tooken," his company would have made an extra $79.99 that day.

Body language is perhaps the most critical part of a sales presentation.

Body language, especially eye contact, can make or break a sale. It gives your customer the indication that you are confident in what you do and what you sell.

Here are a few things to consider when selling yourself to your customer.

1. Body language, smiling and eye contact.

2. Firm hand shake

3. Pleasing appearance, make shore those shoes are shined.

4. Product knowledge

5. Speak clearly and slowly

6. Posture, don't slouch

7. Take time to listen

If you take these factors into consideration, you will see an increase in your sales productivity. Always keep in mind that you are a big part of the sale. Before the consumer believes in your product, they must first believe in you.

Jay Conners is a former loan officer with more than fifteen years of experience in the mortgage business. You can read more articles just like this by subscribing to his free news letter by visiting his site at http://www.jconners.com a mortgage resource center. He also owns http://www.callprospect.com, a mortgage lead company.

Do You Know The Emotion Behind The Objection

2009-02-11T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Neil Greenberg

Prospects have many reasons (you might think excuses) for not buying your product or service. Many of these objections, however, are actually emotional defenses, and before you can overcome the obstacle you must recognize the emotion behind it. To help you analyze why your prospect doesn't want to buy from you, ask yourself the following questions.

1. Does the buyer feel neglected?
This is a prime danger of taking regular customers for granted. You could well walk in expecting a sure-thing order only to find that your customer isn't sure he or she wants to deal with you anymore. Why not?

The buyer may feel that the amount of steady business that his or her company has provided merits more of your time and attention then you've been giving lately.

The buyer may feel that his or her job depends on dealing with a supplier who can be trusted to deliver what was ordered when it's supposed to be delivered., who will still be available after the order is signed.

If you've determined that neglect is the emotion behind the buyer's objection, the best thing to do would be to let the customer get all those feelings outside in the open. Once the buyer has made you aware of your shortcomings, he or she may still give you the order-once promised to do better in the future.

2. Does the buyer feel that you're not showing enough respect?
To some buyers, salespeople who just "drop by" are telling them that they aren't important enough for an actual appointment.

Make sure you show respect for your customers' time-especially in the initial stages of developing an account-by taking the time to set up an appointment for your call. Later, customers may indicate that its okay to stop by any time you have a useful idea to share with them.

3. Is the buyer afraid of doing something new?
Fear of taking a new course of action is a common emotion. Staying with a known product or service is a secure investment.

When this fear is the emotion behind the objection, you must show the buyer-tactfully, of course-that not trying new methods or products eliminates the possibility of benefiting from them. Especially if the buyer has been burned before by a new-and-improved product that turned out to be neither, you may have to prove that your product or service will really do what you've said it will, that its value is worth its cost.

4. Is the buyer afraid of abandoning the old?
Closely related to the fear of taking a new course of action is the fear of abandoning an existing one-especially one that represents a major start-up investment-even if its proving unsatisfactory. A company that has already made a significant investment in its existing program will probably be hesitant about dropping a similar sum on a totally different alternative.

If you realize that the prospect is not going to abandon what it has, you still don't have to abandon the company as a client. Look for ways that your product or service can help solve some of the problems created by the existing system. But take care not to sound too critical of what could be the buyers ( or someone in top management's ) pet idea. Don't tell the prospect to dump the existing product and switch to yours. Instead, explain that you are aware of the problems and that if the prospect will allow you to explain your alternatives, you'll be able to show how your product or service can help them correct them.

Making an honest attempt to understand the emotions behind sales objections helps you to position your product or service in a way that makes it easier for your prospect to say "yes".

Neil Greenberg is a sales maanger with a DC based e-commerce company. http://salessherpa.blogspot.com/

Ten Ways To Make Prospects Like You Enough To Buy From You

2009-02-10T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Bill Lee

Buyers buy from people they like.

The only possible exception occurs when buyers have no choice but to do business with a particular salesperson or a particular company. Perhaps the company manufacturers or sells a proprietary product or service. Perhaps the buyer's preferred vendor is out of stock and the buyer has to go elsewhere to service his or her customer. There are probably several other reasons I could think of, but these are rare exceptions, not the rule.

As I said above, people by and large do business with people they like. I would even go so far as to say that people go out of their way NOT to do business with people that they DON'T like.

Some call this system the "good old boy" system and say that it's not fair. I disagree. I believe that it is everyone's right to do business with whomever they choose. If how much buyers like a particular salesperson is the criteria they choose -- well, it's their money and they can spend it wherever and with whomever they wish.

As the salesperson, it's your job to make prospects like you better than they like the salesperson they currently do business with. If prospects like your competitor better than they like you, whose fault is it? I believe it's your fault! If 99.9% of buyers do business with people they like, then your skill level at getting your prospects to like you better than they like your competitor is certainly as important if not more important than all of the other skills a top producing salesperson must possess.

Techniques to Get Prospect to Like You

1. Put the prospect's interests above your interests. Never be so desperate for an order that you will make a sale when it would be in the customer's best interest to purchase another product from another salesperson. When a meeting planner calls me to discuss speaking at, say, the company's managers conference, I always quiz the meeting planner to make sure that I am the best speaker for the job. If I'm not if I know of a speaker that would provide more value than I can provide I do my best to guide the meeting planner in the direction of the more appropriate speaker. When prospects see you putting their interests ahead of your own, you all of a sudden become better liked and better respected.

2. Remember the Platinum Rule. No, I'm not confusing my precious metals. The Golden Rule says, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." The Platinum Rule© says, "Do unto others as THEY would have you do unto THEM."

There's a big difference between these two rules. One focuses on you and what you like, while the other focuses on your prospects and that THEY like. Another way of putting it might be to say:

"Treat your prospects like they like to be treated."

"Talk to your prospects about the kinds of topics that they like to talk about."

3. Dedicate time to researching your prospects.

Learn a lot about your prospects likes and dislikes, pet peeves, interests, hobbies, hot buttons, etc. The more you know about a person, the better position you're in to apply the Platinum Rule, earn their respect and make them look forward to your visits.

A few years ago, my daughter was sales manager for Nextel in Charlotte. One day she called me from the Lowe's Motor Speedway. "What are you doing at a race," I asked her in amazement that she would be spending her Saturday at race track.

"As you know, dad, most of my customers here are home builders and every time we're together, all they seem to talk about is NASCAR racing. If I'm going to have a chance of beating out my competitors in this market, I'm going to have to be able to participate in conversations that include NASCAR. That's why I'm here.

Personally, I love Atlanta Braves baseball, but when I work in Philadelphia or New York, I don't find a groundswell of interest in the Atlanta Braves. In fact, the baseball fans in the northeast seem to be pretty tired of the Braves winning the Eastern Division year after year. So when I am talking to prospects in those markets, it behooves me to learn a little bit about the Philadelphia Phillies, the New York Mets and Yankees.

4. Smile a lot. Never complain.

Almost everyone likes a person who is happy and easy to be around. Almost no one enjoys being around a person who is always having a bad day or who is a persistent complainer. When a customer or prospect asks you how you're doing, get in the habit of answering, "Terrific."

5. Look for something that is worthy of a compliment and point it out to the prospect.

The rule is that the compliment must be sincere. The prospect will see through an insincere compliment in a heartbeat. Study the prospect's business well enough to find something that this company is doing better than similar companies you know about. First of all, when you identify something specific a prospect is doing that is worthy of a compliment, you will come across as an astute observer. Second, you will make the prospect feel ten feet tall.

6. Employ Customer Care tactics.

If your conversation with a prospect uncovers that the decision maker is a big Pittsburgh Steeler fan, go to the Amazon.com Web site and peruse the books that have been written about the Steelers. Find one you can afford not too expensive and not too cheap and give a copy to the prospect on your next call. Say something like, "I ran across this book and thought about you. I sure hope you enjoy it." Be sure to jot a short note in the front of the book so the prospect will remember who gave it to him.

Customer care tactics are endless. The better you get to know each prospect, the more effective you'll be at identifying small gifts, magazines, articles, etc., that the prospect will appreciate. (As you practice #3 above, you'll find more opportunities to use Customer Care tactics.)

7. Help a prospect solve a problem.

We all have pressing problems that drive us nuts. Anyone who can bring us a proven and workable solution will be forever appreciated. Once you have earned the right to ask this kind of question, say to your prospects: "I do my best to be not just a salesperson to my customers and prospects, but also to be a problem solver. If you will share with me a business problem that is eating at you, I will do everything in my power to bring you a couple of ideas to help you solve the problem."

The is the best way to earn an order and to make a prospect really like and also regard you as a business partner.

8. Be humble, always give credit to others for any success you enjoy.

Only Ted Turner and a handful of celebrities can get away with arrogance. No one and I mean no one likes a blowhard; that is, someone who is quick to give himself credit when things go great and blame others when things go poorly.

The self-demeaning statement is powerful at making customers and prospects like you. Here's an example of a story a salesperson recently told a prospect on a sales call:

"I am the luckiest salesperson on the planet. Yesterday, I was driving down the highway when my cell phone rang. I recognized the number as that of one of my biggest prospects. As I was flipping open the phone to answer it, I dropped the phone and it rolled under the driver's seat. I could hear the prospect yelling into the phone as I pulled over to the side of the road to retrieve it from under my seat. By the time I got to the phone, he had hung up. Of course, I called him back immediately. When I told him what happened, he laughed himself silly, just before he finally gave me a huge initial order. I felt like I really dodged a bullet. I had been calling on this prospect for over a year."

What did telling this story do for the salesperson? It make him look "human." He obviously had enough confidence in himself to tell a story that might have made him look like a klutz to his prospect. It had a happy ending. He got the point across that he was persistent, committed and diligent in pursuing a key prospect.

9. Be appreciative. Show respect. Be courteous.

Always write a thank you note when a prospect gives you an appointment, gives you your first order, gives you a specific obstacle you must overcome, etc. Thank you notes are so rare among salespeople that you can really set yourself apart in an extremely positive way by taking time to write one.

10. Show your prospect how to make more money.

This is my favorite, so I saved it for last. I personally like people who through their suggestions put more money in my pocket than I would have had without their input. Back when I was in purchasing, a vendor invited me to an educational program whereby I had a an opportunity to listen to some of the brightest and sharpest business experts present. This was one of the most beneficial days I had ever spent and it didn't cost me one nickel. The vendor asked nothing in return. But it was the vendor's way of gaining my favorable attention and making me genuinely appreciate that company in a way I had not appreciated them in the past.

I hope these techniques will benefit each subscriber to this electronic newsletter.

For more information, visit www.BillLeeOnLine.com. To order, see Shopping Cart or call 800-808-0534 to order via voice mail.

Bill Lee is a sales trainer who has conducted over 600 sales seminars throughout the US and Canada. He is also author of the book, Gross Margin: 26 Factors Affecting Your Bottom Line. $29.95 plus $6 S&H. Bill's newest book is 30 Ways Managers Shoot Themselves in the Foot. $21.95 plus $6 S&H. See Shopping Cart at http://www.BillLeeOnLine.com Or call 800-808-0534 to order via voice mail.

Why Successful Sales People Need To Unleash The Power Of Positive Thinking

2009-02-09T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Tony Dimech

We all know that when you are bursting with confidence and enthusiasm you have a far greater chance of making that sale. It's all about attitude. If you are in the wrong frame of mind when you start talking to your potential customer then you won't sell a bean. After all, if you do not sound passionate about your product or service then why on earth should your customer bother to give you an order?

In my view it's absolutely crucial to give off the right vibes, and it's vital that you make the best impression and come across as a person with whom the customer wants to do business. If you appear to have a negative attitude or be in a bad mood, then I am convinced that this can actually be quite scary for your customer. Their reaction to you will be poor, and your chances of making a sale are zero.

You should take the instinct further and develop a conscious mood meter to judge exactly how you feel before you meet a customer. You need to ask yourself how you feel on a scale of one to 10. If you cannot be bothered getting out of bed, then you are scoring low at 1, and if you feel that nothing can stop you, then you have reached the zenith zone of 10.

So ideally you need to get to a 10 frame of mind every time you go out to make a sale? Well, surprisingly no. This is not the best place to be as you could come across as hyperactive, edgy or just downright annoying.

I actually believe that 8.5 to 9 are the perfect mood scores for successful sales people, and it is this level you need to achieve for maximum clinch-the-deal effectiveness.

If you judge yourself as being a 5-8.5 then do not go out to sell unless you can boost yourself higher. If you're rating lower than 4 then you have a serious problem and need to work much harder at getting to the right level.

So what do you do when it's 9am on a Monday morning, you have had a row with your partner, your head aches and it's raining? You have got a meeting booked for 10am with a potential client 20 minutes drive away, and you really cannot be bothered. You would far rather cancel the meeting, stay in your nice dry office with a cup of coffee and read the paper.

It may be tempting to give into this feeling, but of course it really is not the solution. You will feel a million times better if you can overcome your mood, perform well and win a new order. You may be surprised to know that the average person has around 200 mood swings every day. It's just not that difficult to switch from mood to mood, and we can all shift from joy to fear to depression within seconds. But it's no good waiting for your mood to shift; it's up to you to put in some control mechanisms to get yourself into the right frame of mind.

There is one very simple way of increasing your positive feelings, and that is to smile. Look in a mirror, put a huge grin on your face and watch the difference. Go a step further, and start smiling at people - you will see that just about everyone starts smiling back. It's contagious, happiness really does spread.

Next you need to actively conjure up images in your mind about what makes you feel happy, positive and content. It might be thinking about your children or pet iguana, or perhaps remembering a time when you were relaxing on a warm beach with waves lapping gently in the background. Try to remember a time when you were perfectly happy and think about how you felt at that moment. Just doing this can shift your mood up a gear.

There is another very easy way to lift a mood, and that is to listen to favourite upbeat music. Get lost into it for a few minutes, tap your toes and maybe even sing along. I guarantee you will feel better.

Changing mood is really all about being able to adopt the right attitude. We all have bad sales calls from time to time, and find ourselves up against difficult, awkward and unresponsive customers. If this happens to you, do not dwell on it and sink into despondency. Instead just forget about it, move on and start all over again.

However gloomy the situation you are in appears to be, make a conscious decision to look for the positive side. For instance, you might be stuck on the M25 for two hours on your way to see a customer. Change your headset from frustration and annoyance, and instead tell yourself how lucky you are to be able to spend two solid hours on your own listening to your favourite music turned up loud.

I would also recommend that you stay clear of negative colleagues. We all know that sales people within a team tend to talk each other down. They might do this by moaning about the price of a new product or complaining about how their boss has treated them unfairly. Once these sort of conversations start they spiral into further negativity until everyone feels downright depressed. Successful people get detached from those groups and away from anyone who has the ability to make them feel negative or downhearted.

I also have a simple but amazingly effective method to make my frame of mind more positive. I have a photo album that captures moments in time that I have enjoyed. I keep mementos of all my best times which might be a theatre ticket, photo of me looking terror struck on a theme park ride, a programme from a match my team won or a particularly nice letter of thanks from a customer. On the last Sunday of the month I look through the collection and decide what to put into my special mood-enhancing album. If I am having a tough time all I need to do is start looking through the album, relive those good moments and I will be at mood level nine in an instant. This is a trick I have been using for years and it always works for me. It's brilliant.

It really is very easy to harness the powers within yourself to change your mood. In turn this improves your attitude and reaps huge benefits in terms of your personal success at selling. It works, so try it.

Tony Dimech has spent all of his professional life in sales; he worked for 20 years various in positions for two international manufacturing companies. In 1998 he started Appleton Associates Ltd http://www.Appleton-Associates.co.uk one of the UK's leading sales training companies. Tony travels extensively throughout the world working with sales professionals to develop new ideas.

Motivational Speaker Identifies 5 Strengths Of Resilient People

2009-02-08T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Dr. Gary S. Goodman

Have you ever wondered why certain people can withstand the bumps and bruises of life better than others?

Why are they hardier?

Is there something in their body chemistry or personalities enabling them to weather the worst of life's storms with a smile on their faces?

If you examine the literature pertaining to what makes certain people less susceptible to the damage that can be wrought by rejection or failure, you'll find that they have these strengths:

(1) They believe the setback is temporary, not permanent. This enables them to move on to their next achievement.

(2) They perceive setbacks as impersonal. They don't believe that it was their fault that they didn't succeed. They don't take losses personally, dwelling on the idea that their personality flaws or weak skills caused their misfortunes.

(3) They see a silver lining in the darkest clouds. Able to take a gain from their losses, a lesson, or an inspiration, they move on.

(4) They don't generalize defeats into larger, more ominous patterns. If they weren't invited to the book club discussion group and their kid earned only a "C" on an exam, they don't tell themselves these episodes mean they're headed down the drain.

(5) They remember wins, and relish them, more than losses. For instance, if they speak before a group and ninety-five percent write positive evaluations, they remember them instead of dwelling on the 5% they didn't reach.

Having noted these strengths, the key question is this: Can we develop them if they're not a part of our makeup?

We can, by using affirmations geared to bolstering each one as a belief. We can tell ourselves:

(1) All setbacks are temporary, and they're stepping stones to my inevitable achievement.

(2) Sometimes things just don't work out, but it's not my fault, because I can't control other people, only my continuing efforts.

(3) Every setback has something to teach me or a way to inspire me. Now, what can this one offer me?

(4) This setback only pertains to itself, and in innumerable ways, I'm still successful, and I'll be even more successful in the future.

(5) I'm going to praise the good, remembering my wins, and downplay my losses. I'll turn stinging defeats into mild disappointments, without delay.

Work on these, and you'll become even more resilient!

Dr. Gary S. Goodman is the best-selling author of 12 books, over 600 articles, and the creator of numerous audio and video training programs, including "The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable," published by Nightingale-Conant-a favorite among salespeople and entrepreneurs. For information about booking Gary to speak at your next sales, customer service or management meeting, conference or convention, please address your inquiry to: gary@customersatisfaction.com.

Make Training Accountable To The Bottom Line

2009-02-07T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Valarie Washington

Recently I was asked:

"Is it fair that trainers be held responsible for improving employee performance? Although training may be seen on the surface as a "cause and effect activity" i.e. you train an individual and their performance increases until they reach a certain standard - I think we all really know that a person's learning (and performance standard) is a result of a wider range of systemic influences."

Trainers are and should be accountable to the bottom line like everyone else in the organization. The reason why we struggle with this is because of our outdated notion that training is what happens in the classroom.

Training is a business solution and should be measured like any other business solution. If a company invest time and money to design, develop, and deliver training their should be demonstrated return for the effort.

Classroom training is an event that should only be undertaken because there was clearly identified business need (not training need). Before one dime is spent on the development side of training we should know exactly with the training should produce.

Much of the trouble can be linked to using the wrong training measures: number of people in the class, the number of training days...Our inability to say that we are going to spend $25,000 to train and the gain will be $50,000 -$100,000 is what diminishes our position in the organization.

The only reason to train anyone in an organization is so that they deliver more RESULTS. We have to know what we are hoping to improve, increase, or reduce before taking up the time and spending the money.

Training that is tested only in the classroom is of no benefit to the organization. Training that is delivered to gain behavioral changes that can be viewed in the classroom is of no benefit to the organization. The only training that matters is the training that closes the specified performance gap so that the business results improve. Before you can impact the bottom line you must define the bottom line.

There are two important questions that must be answered:

QUESTION #1 - What does the company need more or less of?

All companies are looking for the same things like faster processing times, fewer mistakes, less rework, more sales, or less waste. It doesn't matter what job title employees have, their jobs or operations are expected to return more to the company than it takes away.

QUESTION #2 - What do employees need to know and do differently in order for the company to realize their goals?

If the company needs more sales, teaching your customer service agents to say please and thank or smile while they dial is not enough. The skill that employees need is to listen and solve the customers problem more efficiently.

All training should be designed and delivered to transfer directly to the workplace because that is the only place that it counts.

Training will never add value if the focus remains on skill development instead of appropriate skill application. We have to stop teaching people about "communication" and teach them how to communicate differently to improve relationships and business results.

It's less important that customer service agents know about the role of customer service and don't know how to truly serve customers.

There is a chasm of difference between the two.

For more information you may want to read: "Easier to Predict the Weather than Training ROI." http://think6results.com/showarticle.php?article=easitopr#beginning

Valarie is CEO of Think 6 Results -- a knowledge broker passionate about learning and improving performance in organizations. She's a writer, presenter, and executive coach on a mission to get every employee and organization focused on and thinking about the SIX business driving goals that matter.

Looking for just the right SPEAKER for your special meeting or event; we offer full-day presentations, training workshops, and keynote addresses. This high-energy presenter is ready to cover topics like: strategic thinking , career strategy,leadership, change management, teambuilding, employee engagement, or organizational learning. Let us customize a presentation for you. You won't be disappointed.

SHARE this article with others. We invite to copy this article and pass it on when you include the copyright and contact information listed below.

Contact Valarie at washington@think6results.com or by calling 630-705-1189. Visit us at http://www.Think6Results.com

Coaching As A Business Series Learning What Makes It Successful

2009-02-06T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Alan Boyer

This is article #2 in the series on Coaching as a business. Article #1 was "Is Your Coaching Business as Successful as You Thought It Would Be?" (See link at bottom of article to the previous article).

Most coaches don't treat their coaching as a business, therefore they either never make it profitable, or they never make it successful enough to live on. Very few make even $20K in their first year. This is how to turn that around and make as much as you want.

I'm going to give you a formula to run your business. We've got to start with the end result in mind, and then build the step by step critical goals that will deliver the results. We've got to know where we're going before we can build the roadmap to take you there.

Marketing Activities deliver Number of Appointments needed
Sales turns those appointments into the number of closed sales needed
Production turns those closed sales into the Completed and paid for jobs that will deliver EXACTLY the number of dollars of revenue you WANT this year.

Sounds simple? Actually very few coaches (and small businesses of any kind) actually know what their key numbers are. Knowing what you want to end up with, and what the MEASURABLE steps along the way will give you the roadmap of how to get there.

Let's start with the end in mind. How many dollars would you like to make this year? $___________

Don't answer with how many dollars you THINK you CAN make. Put down what you'd like to make. Be reasonable about it, but don't hold back either.What is your average customer worth? $__________

So, take your best shot. After all I asked for an AVERAGE. So what is the average customer worth? You can figure that.

For some of my clients we'll break that up into customer segments. That $10 customer is certainly different from the $100, or $1,000 customer. So, this is a good time to talk about what the average $100 customer looks like. How he is different from the $1,000 customer, and should we be focusing on one instead of the other? Who should we be building a business with that just might catapult our business forward because we worked with only one type of customer?

We can look at the average customer purchase (one time) and we can look at whether a customer buys from us several times over a year, in which case we may want to know what they are worth to us for the total purchases throughout the year.

To be able to hit our revenue target, how many customers do we need this year?

How many customers do we need to produce NEXT WEEK? ____________

I'm going to tell you this, and listen very closely because it may just be one of the most important things you will ever learn about your business:

It does not take months to get results.
The results you see this week will be almost the same each and every time you do it.

We'll cover that in more detail in the future articles of the series on marketing. Just take my word for it, it may change a little after 5-6 times, but you won't have to wait if you do it right. You will see the results NEXT WEEK. And if you are waiting week after week for results, you've already done it wrong and missing the boat. We'll have to fix what's wrong NEXT WEEK (not later) and get back on track. Those that are waiting week after week, or month after month are the 90% of the coaches that fail in their first year.

Ok, I'll get off my soapbox. Now, answer the question. How many customers do we need NEXT WEEK. Just divide the yearly number of customers by 52 weeks. Simple.

How many customers do we have to close a sale with this week? __________

That answer should be obvious. We have to sell the same number of people week to week that we are producing, or delivering our coaching service to. We are just selling them, or closing them, usually a little sooner than when we are coaching them.How good are you at sales? If you talk to 10 people how many will buy?_______. Change that to a percent _________%

Am I talking to the right people?
Am I saying the right things to these people?
Do I need help in increasing my sales close ratio?

How many appointments do you need in a week? ________

Create a list of all of the lead generation activities you are doing, how much are you doing in each of the activities, and what is the response rate? It might look a little like this.

Activity---------Qty ------Response-- # Leads Generated

Direct Mail---1000 pcs-------5%------------50

Email---------1000------------1%-----------10

How much of each activity is needed to generate exactly the number of appointments needed next week?___________ Now, your job if you decide to take it is

to manage those numbers,
to deliver exactly those results each and every week,
and if those numbers fall below target, then fix it by increasing the activity, or by changing something (marketingwhat you say, how you say it, and who you say it to), sales (what you are saying and how).

You are in full control, but the key here is that YOU MUST deliver these numbers each and every week.

Look for the next article in this series: Coaching as a Business Series Marketing/Lead Generation That Will Blow Them Away

Come back next week to get the next article in the series. Next week, we will talk about how to develop effective marketing for your coaching, how you can achieve even better response rates than you have been doing, and even better than AVERAGE marketing by 5-10 times.

This is article #2 in the series on Coaching as a business. Article 1 was "Is Your Coaching Business as Successful as You Thought It Would Be?"

Alan Boyer, coaches coaches to success. Coaching Success

He is looking for other coaches to work with him, under him, and will coach a few of them (for free). His goal is go build a network of highly successful coaches by showing you what works. In that model, he succeeds only when you succeed.

If you are interested contact him at 816-415-8878, or go to his website at http://www.leaders-perspective.com/small-business-help.aspx

Whats Trust Got To Do With It

2009-02-05T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Jacques Werth

'Sales' and 'Ethics' are two words often considered to be a contradiction in terms - both inside and outside of the sales profession. "How can you tell when a salesperson is lying?" goes the old joke. The answer, of course is, "Their lips are moving."

Unfortunately, there is truth in jest: Our own research indicates that 97% of salespeople habitually and knowingly misrepresent their products and services. The salespeople that we've studied balk at being considered liars: They 'cleverly' just omit the negatives when extolling their companies' offerings. In their minds, using exaggeration, omissions, puffery, and trickery means they "can't get caught in a lie."

The fact that many salespeople deliberately lie while conscientiously avoiding being 'caught' suggests a commonly held belief that Lying is Wrong, yet Necessary. This is a Sales Myth. Our research indicates exactly the opposite.

High Probability Selling was evolved out of studying the top 1% of salespeople in 23 industries. High ethical standards is a standout characteristic of these sales superstars: They tend to operate with 'full disclosure,' telling their prospects the negatives of their products as well as the positives. Most of the top one percent believe that their high ethical standards are an important factor in their success.

In his book, Power vs. Force, Dr. David Hawkins, a renowned research psychiatrist, makes the case that almost all people have a powerful intuition for detecting lies. People who are lied to by a salesperson don't necessarily know what the lie is; they just feel a strong distrust, and feel disrespected by the salesperson. Only people who ignore their feelings will buy under those conditions.

Our research validates the importance of Trust and Respect from the Buyer's perspective as well. We've found that the vast majority of people will buy from the salesperson that they trust and respect the most. Interestingly, Buyers' need to trust a salesperson tends to increase along with the purchase price. Unfortunately, most salespeople don't know the right way to tell the truth within the context of a sales presentation.

The numbers tend to support the theory that ethical selling is a key component to sales success. The average income of top sales performers is in the low to mid-six figure range. In contrast, the lower 99% of salespeople earn about the same as the average truck driver. Morally, being ethical is a choice; pragmatically, being ethical is a sales imperative.

What does Trust have to do with Sales Success? The propensity of the top salespeople to tell the truth, coupled with the tendency of most buyers to do business with people they can trust, makes being trustworthy an extremely important sales strategy. Trust is a key factor in Sales Success.

Get Real With Yourself

2009-02-04T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Jacques Werth

Fifty-one years ago I began to study selling -- not just because I'm a curious, analytical type, but because I've always had a burning desire to succeed. When I was young I learned that big money can be made in sales and I wanted "my share." Later, I realized that only a tiny percentage of the people who entered the sales profession make it big.

Disappointment

Getting my first college degree, majoring in Industrial Sales, I aced all my sales courses. In my first sales job, I came to realize that what I learned in college didn't work for me. After taking many other sales courses, I learned most corporate and commercial sales trainers couldn't teach selling, either.

So, I set out to find the best salespeople, regardless of industry, to see what they did that other salespeople didn't do. Over the years, I've gone out on sales calls with hundreds of the best salespeople and learned that the top 1% of all salespeople don't sell the way the other 99% sell.

Discovery - Honesty is the "Magic Bullet"

The most surprising thing I discovered is that most of the top salespeople are totally honest in their work. They're honest with their prospects and customers, and they're honest with themselves.

Numbers Don't Lie

You've often heard that "sales is a numbers game." One of the big differences between the top salespeople and the other 99% is they know their numbers. Top salespeople keep records of their sales activities every day, and they analyze their statistics every day.

Don't Lie to Yourself!

The biggest barrier to success for most salespeople is that they don't know their numbers, and they don't want to know. That makes it easy to lie to themselves.

In every company we work with, almost all of the salespeople think and really believe that their closing rates are at least twice as high as they actually are, except for the few top salespeople.

Get Real - With Yourself

Most salespeople don't know how to sell very well, but they think they do. If they knew their numbers, they would have to face the truth about their skills. They would have to change what they're doing.

Change can be very uncomfortable. It's more comfortable to lie to yourself than to change what they you every day. That's why most salespeople fail, and those that survive continue to struggle to make a good living.

False Prospects

Most salespeople spend most of their time with prospects that "have great potential," but seldom buy from them. The average salesperson goes through all of the motions that look like selling, but fails to bring in much business.

Average salespeople seldom truly qualify their prospects. They rarely dis-qualify their prospects, either. If they did, they would need to find new prospects -- but they don't know how prospect effectively, efficiently and enjoyably.

Real Relationships. Real Selling.

We know what top salespeople do when they're selling. We know what works and what doesn't work. We know what top salespeople do to eliminate the rejection most salespeople have to live with and suffer with every day. We know how they eliminate objections so they don't have to "overcome objections." We know how they close dozens of times during each sales visit without any pressure on their prospects or themselves. Top salespeople develop relationships of mutual trust and respect with most of their prospects -- without any phony "rapport building."

The essence of our book, "High Probability Selling," is how the top salespeople actually sell. It's about learning a selling process that makes it highly probable that you'll close the majority of your prosepcts. It's what you can learn how to do in our sales training workshops.

Prospecting Success

2009-02-03T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Wendy Weiss

I spent my formative years in ballet class. While other kids went out to play, I went to ballet class. In high school while others attended after-school activities or hung out together, I went to ballet class. By my mid-teens I was taking class five or six times a week or maybe even more. This was a habit that continued till injuries sidelined my professional dancing career.

This habit of taking a ballet class every day was not mine alone. Every dancer, professional or those seeking to become professional, takes class every day. It's a habit, it's a reality, it goes with the job. It is impossible to dance professionally without taking class. Even the stars, Barishnykov, for example, take class every day.

In my late teens I had some personal crises that stopped me from going to class everyday. At one of my rare appearances in class, my teacher asked where I had been. I told her what was going on in my life. She said to me, "That's no reason not to take class. You have to take class everyday, no matter what."

Sounds harsh doesn't it? But she was right. Not taking class only gave me something else to feel bad about.

When I started my sales training business, I used that same "no matter what" approach to prospecting. I prospected every day. I started out with absolutely no corporate connections. I was a ballet dancer, I only knew other ballet dancers. I did, however, know how to prospect. On and off for years my "day job" had been telemarketing. I began to prospect the same way I learned to take class, every day, no matter what. Five years later I have a thriving business. Even today I continue to prospect every day, while perhaps not for as many hours. Every day brings some prospecting activity, no matter what.

So how does the busy entrepreneur, busy owner or sales professional find the time to prospect every day no matter what? The answer is simple, put it in your calendar. Schedule time in your calendar every day for prospecting activity. At the scheduled time put aside what you are doing and prospect. Do not take other calls, do not work on other projects, do not allow interruptions. Simply prospect. When the time you have scheduled is over, stop prospecting and go on with your other tasks.

Schedule appointments with yourself to prospect and keep those appointments. We get angry and upset when prospects miss appointments. Ask yourself: Why is it all right to miss an appointment with yourself?

Prospecting success (just like learning to dance) comes over time. In order to keep your sales funnel full you must constantly be on the lookout for leads and prospects. By keeping your funnel full you avoid the boom and bust cycles that so many entrepreneurs and sales professionals experience. To be successful you must engage in some prospecting activity everyday, no matter what. It's a habit, it's a reality, it goes with the job.

Wendy Weiss, "The Queen of Cold Calling & Selling Success," is a sales trainer, author, and sales coach. Her recently released program, "Cold Calling College", and/or her book, "Cold Calling for Women", can be ordered by visiting http://www.wendyweiss.com Contact her at wendy@wendyweiss.com. Get Wendy's free e-zine at www.wendyweiss.com

Are You Stuck Or Can You Get It

2009-02-02T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Jacques Werth

Why do many salespeople remain faithful believers in obsolete selling strategies? We are talking about intelligent, successful salespeople. People whom, if they opened their minds to a totally new concept, could easily double their income without working any harder. That question has puzzled and frustrated us during the 14 years that we have been in the sales training business.

We have trained a great many salespeople who have doubled and even quadrupled their sales. Most of them have recommended our training to a lot of their friends and colleagues. Usually a few of their friends and colleagues enroll in our training courses. But, that's not we expected.

We expected that, when our graduates went back to their companies and had dramatic increases in production, most of the other salespeople would demand to learn High Probability Selling. We expected that their managers would want to replicate that kind of performance by training their entire sales force. But, that doesn't happen very often. Most often, the other salespeople, and their sales managers will not believe that the tremendous increases in our graduate's sales productivity is due to learning a new sales process. Rather, they believe that the sudden success is due to luck, or a previously hidden talent, or to an increase in motivation.

We couldn't figure out why they just don't get the reality of it. David B. Wolfe, a new paradigm marketing strategist from Reston, VA, addresses this phenomenon in a recent essay. It seems to be a question of which of their needs is more important to them. The following is an excerpt from David's essay.

-------------------------------------------

How often do you find yourself pressing a point that you know to the core of your being is right, only to be frustrated because some people just "can't get it"?

Imagine you are walking down the street 450 years ago when a friend runs up to you and says it has been discovered that, "The earth is not flat! It's round, like a ball. Not only that, it turns around the sun!" You tell your friend to go home and sleep it off because you know that from the highest hill or mountaintop the panoramic view shows no sign of the earth being round like a ball, and you know from first-hand observation that every day the sun shines it rises in the east and sets in the west in its daily journey around the earth.

Would you believe that some people schooled in societies like our own still believe the earth is flat? To see for yourself, type in "Flat Earth society" at Google. Those who believe the earth is flat do so because they need to believe so. After all, belief follows need.

We believe what we need to believe to have guidance in our pursuit of a sense of personal validity, safety and comfort. Once such a set of beliefs is in place, challenges to them are usually met with fight or flight responses. We argue in defense of our beliefs or flee from notions that contradict them. We are prone to denying ideas that contradict our beliefs any landing rights in our minds.

Much like Copernicus's repositioning of the earth from the center of the universe around which celestial bodies revolve, most people of that day could not "get it." As Albert Einstein said, "A problem cannot be solved in the same consciousness that produced it."

Sales Training Tip 07 Ask Questions Of The Prospect

2009-02-01T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Lance Winslow

If you are a sales training professional you need to make sure your salespeople understand that it is important to ask questions of the Prospect during cold calling and during sales interviews. The best way to do this is to have the salesman ask very good questions of the Prospect about important things in their business and their operations.

This does a couple of things; one, it opens dialogue and keeps the Prospect talking and developing rapport with the salesman. Two, it helps the salesperson learn more about how the company does business, how the Prospect wishes to communicate and helps the salesperson due to the major objections that may or may not be introduced during the sales process or cold call if the sales interview goes that far.

Sales managers need to watch their sales force and make sure that the salespeople are not getting all of their cold calls cut short by prospects who want to dump the call because the salesperson failed to engage the Prospect in proper dialogue.

For new salespeople the sales training professional may decide to put a 3 by 5 index card in front of the salesperson with a list of possible questions they can ask the Prospect on until which time they become less nervous in opening dialogue and communication in normal conversation, as eventually it becomes more natural. Please consider all this in 2006.

Lance Winslow

Sales Training Tips For Mobile Car Wash Marketing Teams

2009-01-31T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Lance Winslow

If you own a mobile car wash business the fastest way to increase sales and build routes so that you can add new cruise to your existing business is to set up sales teams, which will go out and solicit new accounts. The goal is to increase the routes and density and numbers of cars washed per day. It is important to sell the service is to the higher end clientele and to stack the customers very close together perhaps even on the same street.

If the accounts are too far apart then there will be time lost in travel and this means more cost to the mobile car wash company; remember when the truck is parked washing cars it is making money and win it is stuck in traffic you are losing your butt. The salespeople need to be trained that it is very important to stack the clientele close together. And there should be bonuses offered for selling two accounts right next to each other.

The entire sales team for your mobile car wash company and marketing team must understand that. If not you will find your teams selling accounts to large companies that are very far apart and during heavy traffic times you might lose 30 minutes in travel. But he could car washing team will make $2-$3 per minute and that means between $60 and $90 lost revenue and this is something you cannot afford or should not afford. Please consider this a 2006.

Lance Winslow

7 Phrases You Cant Say In Sales

2009-01-30T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Doug Smart

7 Phrases You Can't Say in Sales

(Because They Will Undermine Your Credibility

and Drop Your Closing Rate)

Years ago, George Carlin listed seven words you can't say on television. Then HBO came along, said all the words, and the world of television changed forever. Now, I know that even before you read the seven no-no phrases in sales, you might be tempted to think, oh, whatever these are they will eventually become acceptable, too.

There are two big problems with this reasoning.

1. Television has been around for about sixty years so it is still a youngster experiencing growing pains; sales started way back when the inventor of the wheel made a few extras to sell to friends.

2. The seven sales phrases are already being said by salespeople and they are delivering decidedly mediocre results. They live on because veteran salespeople say them and novice salespeople ape them. The cycle continues.

The big challenge with these words is that they undermine the credibility of salespeople and they encourage defensive barriers to spring up in the minds of the prospective buyers. Talk about salespeople shooting themselves in the foot! These phrases either degrade what could be a great sale down to a pedestrian transaction or they scare off buyers. And worse, less experienced salespeople think they are supposed to say these phrases in order to entice buyers. Here is a word to my sales colleagues: No matter whether you are selling products, services, and/or ideas, avoid using these phrases! They will make buyers distrust you.

As you read these seven, think of yourself as a buyer not a salesperson. (Did you ever stop to consider that over the course of your life you will most likely buy more products and services than you will sell?) As a buyer, imagine you are in situation in which a salesperson has recently made your acquaintance. Test your gut reaction. Do any of these seven make you want to buy or do they make you want to run?

Here are the seven deadly phrases in sales. Actually, one of these is a pair of words, not a phrase. But all of these leave the same unpleasant after-taste as one bad word.

Trust me. Instructing people to trust a salesperson is pretty much like setting up a too-familiar joke whose punch line is going to be "you are an idiot so just give me lots of your money now." The pairing of trust and me signals buyers to put up their defense shields and turn on their BS filters (for Better Sense, of course). Trust is one of the two concepts that the more somebody asks for it, the more elusive it becomes. Trust like love cannot be requested effectively. Although it is plentiful, it has to be earned to be genuine. And besides, it is the buyer's prerogative to decide whom to trust, when, and how much. Asking for trust will actually hinder the salesperson from getting it. (P.S."Believe me when I say" is in the same league.)

I'm your friend. It is tempting for a salesperson to think a buyer is a new friend after the two share fifteen minutes excitedly discussing a mutual experience or passion. This happens, for example, when both share an obsession for golf and both once played the course at Pebble Beach in their youth. However, too many salespeople mistake rapport for friendship. The two are not the same. Friendship requires an emotional investment and real commitment. Friendship takes time, energy, and some sacrifice. Friendliness is a great way to ease any tensions in the sales process but over-friendliness can raise resentment in buyers' minds.

Nobody can sell this cheaper than me. Nobody? First off, the world is a big place with a lot of others selling things a lot like what other salespeople have. If the salesperson really has the world's lowest price on something and can do business both legally and profitably, instead of wasting time one-on-one with prospects, he or she should put up a website and rake in the dough. And second, the problem with bragging about being cheapest (besides triggering buyers' skepticism) is that it is a lousy way to make a profit. A more satisfactory approach is to show the value of the product, service, or idea. Value takes into account integrity, experience, service, reliability, trustworthiness, uniqueness, desirability, return, and how the buyer will be better for buying. Promoting value ahead of price is a rock-solid strategy for long-term success.

We are the best! Okay, maybe there are a few situations in which this is credible. And I am not opposed to the power of positive thinking as a confidence builder. But the truth is buyers have learned that ninety-nine percent of the salespeople who say it are lying. A phrase like this turns on their BS filter. Best, like beauty, is in the eye of the buyer not the salesperson.

Always and never. This pair stands on the same quicksand as "We are the best." They sound like exaggerations and are frequently perceived as stretching the truth. For example, how truthful do these two statements sound? "We always provide quality service." "Our delivery drivers are never late." Many people simply don't take always and never at face value. A few years ago I did a series of training programs for engineers from several Miller Brewing locations. I asked each to write the words always and never. Then I asked each to express as a percentage what the words meant. As you would expect, some saw always as a one hundred percent occurrence and never as zero percent. But the unforgettable thing was that twenty-five percent saw them as somewhere in between. To many, always and never were so abused they became synonymous with frequently and occasionally. For example, "I never lie" was readily perceived as a lie and was reinterpreted to mean "I occasionally lie."

What you need is... This is actually a great phrase after high levels of rapport and trust have been developed. But even then this is pretty presumptuous on the part of the salesperson because he is not the one who has to live with the purchase. Just a few days ago a salesperson, with whom there was not much rapport or trust, told me "What you need is this computer." That may have been so, but the salesperson did not ask questions -- so he knew little about me, my situation, or what I wanted to accomplish. I didn't care what he thought I needed. I listened, learned a few things, walked out the store, and bought one elsewhere. (See number one.)

This is perfect for everyone. This is another statement that is hard to accept as true (Is H&R Block perfect for everyone?). Before adding this one to the list I tried hard to think of one commercial product or service that really is perfect for everyone. The closest I could get was bottled water. But then I thought, "If the brand of bottled water you sell is indeed perfect for everyone, why do you have competition? Doesn't the mere existence of stiff competition indicate that for some buyers other brands are more perfect for them?" Okay, you don't sell bottled water. But re-read the above substituting your stuff for bottled water.

Some other phrases, such as "The check is in the mail," undermine rather than build. No matter how well intentioned, when salespeople use these seven phrases, and related phrases, buyers hear something that is questionable. This can cause buyers to react protectively and be selective about what they choose to believe. That results in fewer closed sales. A smart strategy for salespeople is to steer clear of these seven toxic phrases.

Doug Smart helps select, develop, and retain exceptional sales managers and salespeople who are passionate about thier work. He is the author of "Grow Your Sales by Selling Smarter Not Harder." He is a consultant and speaker who has presented 2,000 paid presentations around the world. For a free subscription to "Grow Your Sales" eNewsletter click on www.GrowYourSales.org.

Get More Clients Now

2009-01-29T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Kimberly Stevens

Although David has been a graphic designer for a decade, he's only been a business owner for a little over a year. He was becoming increasingly discouraged with his clientele. "I'm the only person in the business, and even though I've been in business for a whole year, I'm still having to spend a lot of time marketing to get new clients. And the ones I do get usually only have one small project for me for the entire year. To top it off, I don't even get to do the kind of work I really enjoy They all just want the basic logo, business card, letterhead job. I really want to work on full-scale marketing campaigns where I'm designing print ads, direct mailers & media kits. How do I get more of the right clients?"

As you are discovering, David, building a stable of long-term clients with needs that match your interests can be a time-consuming and ongoing effort, but it's worth it in the long run. It's up to you to build a company that attracts clients with higher-end needs. You can't blame the small businesses for whom you are likely working for having a small budget and basic needs. As a sole proprietor, you can certainly understand working on a restricted budget.

So the first thing you need to do is to focus on how you want to position your company in the marketplace. What types of work do you want to do for clients? Do you want to avoid business card layout all together or will you do it if it's for a client who does or will have larger needs in the future? Do you want to develop a niche in which you specialize in doing full-scale marketing campaigns within a specific industry, such as restaurants or high-tech companies? You get the idea - begin by determining what type of work you want. The world of graphic design is big and broad, so it's your job to narrow your focus which will make your company more attractive to potential clients in that field because you spend more time working on projects similar to theirs as compared to a jack-of-all-trades graphic designer.

Next, you need to make sure that everything you use to present your company to the marketplace reflects your new positioning. This may mean revising the content of your web site and brochures and re-wording the tagline on your business card. If you don't already have a tag line that you splatter on all of your collateral materials, create one. This is a terrific positioning tool. And, as a graphic designer, you know that you can impact the image someone gets of your company through the design of your company's materials. Do you want to present your company as high-tech, friendly and affordable, or hip and cutting edge? Create a consistent image across the board on everything a prospect would see when encountering your business. If you want to do full-scale marketing campaigns, start with your own. Enlist the help of a designer friend or marketing friend if you tend to have trouble applying your designer brilliance to your own company as many of us do.

Once you know how you want to position your company in the marketplace and you have updated all of your materials, the only thing left to do is present yourself to the people who want what you have to sell. This may be a very different group of people than the ones you've spent the last year with. Many of us cut our marketing teeth at the local chamber of commerce, but they can be full of small, one-person businesses that may not have the need for the services you want to provide.

The best thing to do is to identify what types of companies are going to be attracted to what you are providing. Are they of a certain size, a certain geographic location, a certain industry? Once you've identified the parameters, it's time to determine how you are going to reach them. What associations do they belong to? Can you write articles for that association's newsletter? What networking groups do they attend? Can you join? Do they usually find their vendors from advertisements, referrals, or direct mail? Who else already provides services to them that could potentially provide you an opening into the companies in exchange for a finder's fee or reciprocity (these are called Centers of Influence)? Develop contacts with marketing companies who could potentially bring you in as a subcontractor for their clients' marketing campaigns. Although, they will generally take a cut or mark up your services, perhaps, you'd enjoy focusing on building these relationships so in the future you could focus just on the graphic design aspect of your business, not the client-building part.

This may seem like you are starting from ground zero as you pull away from those groups that you've been networking with during the past year and begin again as a new member in new groups, but soon you will be reaping the rewards of a thriving business working with people you like and doing what you want to do. What could be better?

Once you've established yourself in these new communities, you can't continue to spend half of your week trolling for new clients or you'll cap your income in relatively short order. Your next line of attack should be meeting some Centers of Influence. Read more about how to do this at: http://www.askthebizcoach.com/ezines/061802gettingclients.htm

About The Author

Kimberly Stevens is the author of the ebook series, *The Profitable Business Owner: A Step-by-Step System for Starting & Running a Successful Service Business*. Download Sample Chapters & get her free MiniCourse, *The 10 Most Common Mistakes Business Owners Make & How To Avoid Them* at: http://www.askthebizcoach.com/ebooks.htm

kim@askthebizcoach.com

How To Win Business By Networking

2009-01-28T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Gavin Ingham

In sales we do tend to become focused upon our own little worlds. Our company, our desk, our clients; but there is a whole world of people out there living their lives in their little worlds too. And they do a lot of business. The purpose of personal networking is to move yourself into these people's networks so that you can do business with them naturally and without cold calling. Now, I am not for one second suggesting that you should stop cold calling but you can use personal networking to greatly increase your chances of success and referrals.

Pareto's Law states that 80% of your business will come from 20% of your clients. Chances are that these are the clients that you have strong relationships with, your "champions" if you like. So start to network with them. Find out who they know, who they can refer you to and who they would approach for business if they were you.

Now you may be thinking, "Well, I cannot do that." Or even, "Well, they would have given it to me if they had any contacts, wouldn't they!".

Wrong! On both counts! People who do not sell for a living do not understand what you want if you don't tell them. They may well think that you do not need or want their help. Approached properly your clients will help you, they will give you leads and they will sell your services for you. I advocate that everyone I coach has a "circle of influence" a group of people who always speak well of you, will refer you to other people and who will happily pass leads to you. Start by identifying ten people for yours now and start to network with them. As time passes you can expand this group. You will find that many of your best clients will be people who are referred to you by your existing best clients.

And remember! In sales, none active clients can be "champions" too so keep in touch with them. I have won many large pieces of business from clients who work with my competitors for a variety of valid reasons but then recommended me and not them!!! Why? Because the salesperson who sold them had something specific that they wanted at the right time but I had the networking skills and the credibility so they gave their referral business to me not the other salesperson!

"But Gavin, I have only just started out and I haven't got any clients or any people to get into my circle!!!!"

Well, firstly I don't believe you. Ten years ago I was offered a job with a large financial advisors in the City. I was very tempted. It was more money than I was earning, the commission was incredible and the offices were flash. I decided that it was not the path for me but I do remember their first question in the interview, "When you start with us you have to make a list of 200 people you know. Now you many not think that you know 200 people but you will. Write down all of your family, all of your friends and then everyone you know through them. It may take you a while but you'll get there. Your first job is to ring them all, tell them what you are doing and ask them how they can help. Can you do that?"

So you see you will know people, when you try. Are you ready to try yet?

But there are other ways to get to know people and here are just a few. I am sure that you will have more and better ideas because you know your business better than me

Business groups, user groups, networking groups (such as BNI), breakfast clubs, Toastmasters, church, rotary, rotaract, the round table, standing in queues, public speaking anywhere, charity work, in restaurants, volunteer service, hotels, at the gym, professional associations (such as REC), your local business link, schools/ colleges / universities, neighbours, friends, family, colleagues, ex-colleagues and many, many more.

And as a final note before you all leave your desks to take your best clients out for lunch or to go and visit BNI! You are running your own business. You are responsible for making the sales that you need to hit target. You need to work out by yourself and in discussion with your manager or coach the best way to do that. Every networking meeting you attend should have an objective!

Several of my ex staff may well be reading this thinking, "I cannot believe him he stopped me going to the XXX user group." Yes, I might have and if you remember I asked you why you were going. If the objective is not clear and not quantifiable don't go. It's not a "jolly" or a day out of the office, it's a proven business development method!

For the last 10 years, Gavin Ingham has been helping sales people to explode their sales performance by turning self-doubt, fear and lack of motivation into self-belief, confidence and action. With his inspirational approach to sales performance and motivation Gavin combines commercial experience, personal excellence and communications technologies in delivering personal and business sales success.

Visit http://www.gaviningham.net now to join Gavin's free monthly newsletter packed full of sales secrets, strategies and tactics. Join now and get Gavin's ground-breaking 9-part objection handling course absolutely free.

How To Overcome Objections

2009-01-27T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Sean Mc Pheat

Usually when a prospect makes an excuse, it is because they have not been convinced that whatever you are selling to them, has sufficient benefit for them to change their mind.
In order to combat this you should have included them in the solution from the very beginning. You should have been asking questions around what their current situation is, what problems they are facing, the impacts that the problem is causing, what they would like to achieve and so on. By asking quality questions up-front you will save yourself the excuses down stream! But what if you are not at that level yet and you are still getting objections, how do you overcome them?
Well, here are 4 of my favourite tips to help you overcome them
Tip number one is all about adding additional information to their objection.
For example, the prospect says: "I don't have the time to spend on implementing this system"
You can reply with "Yes, that's a good point and XYZ company thought exactly the same way before they ordered from us 1 month ago but with this package comes an unrivalled support plan where we will do all of the work for you" and then you talk about what it is and how it works.
With that example you build up credibility by dropping an existing client into the conversation, the fact that they had that same objection and still ordered. You could even go on to give the prospect the name and telephone number of a person at that company so they can call to find out what their experience was like with working with you.
So that's tip number 1 add information to their objection.
Tip number 2 is all about using their objection and turning it into a question to find out more.
For example "It's just too much money, we do not have enough for this" Now most sales people would just go for the reasons why their product was just too good to miss and counter the cost argument but by asking a question you can open up the prospect for a respectable 2 way discussion about how much they have got to play with for your product or service.
You can reply with something like "Has the amount gone over what you had in mind for this product?"
This question feels out the prospect with regards to how much they have got to play with. You can then probe some more until you get a good idea of how much your product is over their budget and what leeway you have got to make discounts, throw in additional extras and so on.
Tip number three is to ask the prospect whether their objection is the only one they have got. Objections are a lot easier to handle if you know them up front plus after you have got over one hurdle you do not want others put in your way.
So the prospect replies with "It's too much money"
You reply with "Just supposing that cost wasn't an issue, do you have any other problems with what we have discussed today as you like the product don't you?"
With this question you are isolating the objections.
You could even take it one step further by saying something like:
"If we could do something on the cost so that you could satisfy yourself on what you were paying would you be up for placing an order today?"
Tip number four is to agree with the prospects objections and line of reasoning and then use this information to demonstrate the evidence that they need to be convinced to buy.
The prospect says "Your product looks good but it is a lot cheaper at xyz company who we already use"
You reply with "Yes, you're right Mr Prospect, they are a lot cheaper and their product is very good indeed, I'm sure you are getting some great results with it. Therefore we would have not bothered seeing you today if we thought that our product was not superior to the rest. Let me show you how it can.."
In this instance the company are already using another product so do not put it down because somewhere down the line you are questioning someone's judgement because they got sold on that product!
I hope those 4 tips help you to overcome the objections that you face?
Remember, keep it simple and stick to a formula that works best for you.

"Sean McPheat provides sales coaching, sales training and sales training to a number of businesses around the globe. He is the owner of http://www.mtdsalestraining.com and designs and delivers sales training courses, programmes and consultancy assignments across the UK, Europe, US and the Middle East."

Breaking Out Of Your Shy

2009-01-26T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Ken Lomba

About two years ago, I was very shy. I was always concerned of what people thought of me. So before I did anything, I would get nervous and think oh that would make me look stupid or that's embarrassing.

Realistically, I know today. People really don't care what you do, as long as it is professional and if you did something that was funny some one may laugh for a couple seconds but then it is soon forgotten.

This is how I broke out of being shy. I knew by Robert Kiyosaki's, the author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, teachings that sales was the most lucrative career and network marketing was the best way to build a B quadrant business. A B quadrant business according to Robert Kiyosaki is basically an absentee owner business where you don't have to be present at the job working while it expands.

My first breakthrough. So what I did was this, and I recommend you do this also. I went door to door in my neighborhood. I knocked on the door and spoke to people about the product I was selling and I gave them information on it. I was very nervous at first. But after talking with a couple people it became easier and I realized I was doing something that most people feared doing and that was talking to strangers.

My second breakthrough. I went to a self improvement seminar in Las Vegas. It was a great course on becoming success minded. During the break a man walked to every seat and he placed his business card on the seats. As he passed the seats, if any one was still near the seat, he introduced himself and exchanged business cards. I thought WOW what a great idea.

The next seminar I attended I brought 500 business cards with me to place on the seats during break time. Well break time came around and there were still people in the room. Man I was nervous, I almost talked myself out of it. Then I thought about the time I went door to door and talked to strangers. I thought if I could do that I could do anything. But I still was nervous because there were 100 people in the room and they would be watching me. Then I thought, well if I don't do it someone else will and they might get involved in someone else?s business.

So I went to every seat and left my business card. As I approached people near there seats, I greeted them and introduced myself, I talked about what they did for a living and how they enjoyed the class, and then I exchanged business cards with them. Man, I was nervous. But I continued.

To this day, when I want to do something and I get second thoughts I say to myself, "If I don't do it someone else will." I imagine that if I don't do it someone else becomes a Royal Ambassador. And when I feel like taking it easy and not building my business, I think of another person within the company that is in a higher position on another team, and think is he/she taking it easy are they slowing down, are they taking a break.

The money is there when you build your business and promote up the commission scale. All you have to do is do it.

The two marketing methods I mentioned 1) door to door marketing and 2) drop card marketing are not the best. The results are minimal. I recommend these two methods to build up confidence and experience only. When you do this I recommend you market the Himalayan Goji Juice over the marketing executive position because there will be more people interested in a health product over a business opportunity. Regards,

Ken Lomba 707-688-1337

Goji Rep Founder FreeLife Independent Marketing Executive http://KenLomba.FreeLife.com http://www.GojiRep.com

Ken Lomba is an experienced internet marketer of 11 years. A professional international network marketer currently with sales teams in over 11 countries and growing.

How Bad Do You Want To Live The Life You Imagined Are You Still Wishing For A Better Result

2009-01-25T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Larry Storey

Why is it that some sales professional are more successful than others? Why is it that some sell more in a month than many sales reps sell in their career? What separates the winners from the losers? The answers are simple but not easy.

In my experience working with everything from Fortune 500 companies and their top executives to individuals on social assistance attempting to enter the workforce for the first time, I have found that the difference is as simple as taking complete responsibility for your life. My experience with individuals who are not successful is that they constantly look for the magic pill, the hero on the white horse that rescues them from their dreadful life, while the leaders take complete responsibility for where they are and where they are going. There is no magic pill (sorry); no one is coming to rescue you. You can change jobs every 6 months hoping the 'next' one will be better, but it won't. Your results from your present sales career will 80% of the time follow you, if you are the top sales rep at your current company, you will be the top sales rep at your next company. If you are struggling, frustrated, and unsuccessful where you are you will carry that to where you are going as well. So how do you change your current results? This is where things can get exciting or frustrating depending on whether you think this is a magic pill article or a tool you can use to reach the top of your career. Tools can be helpful ONLY if they are used. A shovel sitting in the garage cannot be blamed for the hole not being dug.

First of all, commit to taking 100% responsibility for your life - no more blaming, no more excuses, it is your life and if you want to achieve superior results it will be up to YOU! Quit whining, get away from the others in your life that bitch, whine and complain about how they are hard done by. 99% of your success will be determined by your relationships. Be very careful with your relationships, they can be toxic or nourishing.

Second - Commit to becoming a life-long learner. Our public education system is set up to give you a minimum education on success principles. You will learn how to survive, but not thrive. No one cares how successful you become, they just care enough so that you do not become a drain on the public assistance trough - that is it plain and simple! If you want to reach the top you must learn from the experts in your field that have achieved the results you are looking for. Imagine a child coming home from his last day in grade 3 saying to you that he is done learning, has learned all he needs to learn. That is ultimately what 99% of the people do when they graduate from high school or college, they quit learning.

Third - Define your outcome. What is it that you are trying to achieve? Be specific, very specific. In my workshops I have heard people say they want more money, that is their ideal outcome. When I walk over and hand them a nickel and tell them they have now achieved their goal, they get upset. Why? Isn't that what they wanted? No, of course not. The problem is that your subconscious mind will set out to achieve the goal or outcome you set, however, it won't do much more than that either. Be very clear and of course WRITE IT DOWN. Now, in my workshops I talk about how important writing down your goals is and show all kind of statistics verifying the results of writing down your goals. Next day guess what happens? We go around the table and ask how many people wrote down their goals the previous night, want to guess how many have? Zero, none, zippo. Again, waiting for the white horse (ain't coming). WRITE DOWN YOUR GOALS. Fourth - Take action, do something everyday that moves you towards your goal. The key here is to separate the learning component from the actual day to day activities that put money in your pocket. Too often people consider learning an action but it is not. The application of what you have learned is the action. - DO SOMETHING EVERYDAY.

And the final component is... NEVER GIVE UP. Life is tough - for everyone and always will be. It is tough to be a loser and it is tough to be a winner (but a lot more fun to be a winner!). You will face difficulties every step of the way and your commitment to overcoming them will determine your results. Babies don't stop on their quest to walk or talk and neither should you stop trying to achieve your objective. That in a nutshell is a roadmap to success (or conversely, failure). The choice is YOURS - now what are YOU going to do about it???

Larry Storey is President of Peak Performance Systems in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada. Larry has presented to a variety of Fortune 500 organizations and his workshops have been said to produce more usable ideas in 1 hour than most workshops produce in a day! With over 10 years in the field of developing human potential Larry knows what it takes to live the life people dream of living. Married to his dream woman and the daddy to a son (Thomas) and a girl (Rae). Larry Storey can be reached at (204) 654-9465 or by emailing him at mail@larrystorey.com

The Makings Of A Salesman

2009-01-24T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Gloria Whitehorn

Salesmanship is the force that moves business. Without it all business would be at a stand-still. Just being able to sell does not complete the definition of salesmanship. A fraudulent person may be able to sell you a piece of swamp land, but because they were able to sell the worthless piece of property to you, does that say they demonstrated salesmanship?

The answer, of course, is no. The central fact of salesmanship is rending a service to your customer. It has to do with convincing others to buy your goods as a benefit to them at a fair price. And they must be satisfied with their purchase.

When looking for people to sell your goods, you will no doubt run into several different types of prospects, and it will be your job to take them successfully through the selling process until you close the deal. Each step must be carried out in succession. If a step is skipped, or taken out of the natural order in which the human mind works, it could result in you loosing the sale, or in this case, a potential salesman. So you see the importance of every salesperson learning these fundamental steps.

This article is to help you identify your prospects and how to teach them the principles of selling, so they will go out and successfully make sales for you and themselves.

No person is born a salesman. It is true; some of us may be born with certain talents that would be beneficial in the area of sales. And there have been some pretty good salesmen who have had no formal training. But everyone would do even better, if they learn what entails the selling process.

What are the principles of the selling process? Here it is in a nutshell. It's all about the psychology of the human mind. The selling process concerns carrying the prospect successfully from one mental state to the next, resulting in the sale.

Teach your prospects how to pique their customer's curiosity for the proposition. Create interest. Convince the customer that the claims that have been made concerning the proposition are true. Instill in the customer the desire to own what they are selling. And finally, teach your sales people how to get their customers to make a decision to buy and to take action.

The salesman should keep the first selling talk short, forceful and to the point. And they need to create and keep interest active in the mind of their customer. They should bring energy and life into their sales talk. No one wants to listen to a boring sales presentation.

Knowing why the customer will buy is very important. You find this out by getting into the mind of the prospect. Seeing things from their point of view. The customer wants to know if you can render them a real service. They may not be interested in your name, or the name of your company at first. The main thing they want to know is how what you are selling will benefit them. The trained salesman will show the customer they wish to render a real service.

Make sure your sales people know your goods. If they are blind-sided by a question concerning your goods that they cannot answer, the salesperson will have little, or no chance of getting their prospect to trust what they are saying is true.

Different Types of Prospects:

The curious person is going to want to know what qualifications are needed. They're going to ask questions. Asking questions is the best way to learn anything. His or her need to know more is the first sign that their interest is sincere. This type of person is open to the possibilities of instruction. And they already understand there is a right and wrong way to sell. Let them know that they need sales training and among other things, they will have to learn about the principles of the selling process. And this sales training will qualify them to be a success in any type of business situation.

The next person may be very enthusiastic from the get go. And may ask the question, "How long will it take for me to get started?" Now you've already moved this person through all the stages. You have closed the deal. But wait, a person of this nature still must be taught the principles of selling. A trained person makes the fewest mistakes. And will be the most successful. At this point you don't want to dampen their enthusiasm, so teach them the principles of the selling process so they can get started selling for you.

The fearful person may say, "I'm afraid of selling. I don't think I'm cut out to be a salesman." You should empathize with this person. Let them know they are not alone. Others have expressed the same fears only to go on and become some of the best salesmen. Just as in every other profession, there are things in the field of sales that need to be learned. And once your prospect gets some sales training they may feel different about their sales abilities.

Still another person may feel they need no instruction at all because they're a natural born salesman. They can out talk anybody. They feel very self-sufficient. They may feel what they don't know they can learn by doing, and in fact, this is true to a certain extent, but a salesman is not born, they are made. And as in any field, the trained person has a better chance of acquiring success.

Being able to talk a good game is not the same thing as being a trained salesman. So this person needs to be made aware that instruction is still needed. The danger of this type of person is they may go out and make the biggest mistakes. It is best to use techniques that have been analyzed and tested. Trial and error is not the way to go into salesmanship. This type person would fare much better by learning the principles of selling first.

The salesman who knows what he or she is talking about has coupled natural abilities with learned instruction. They will be the most successful sales people. The trained salesman makes the fewest mistakes. This means that time, money and energy are not wasted by going off half-cocked and loosing the sale.

About the Author:

Gloria is an article writer, business owner, author of two books, salesperson and seasoned mail order pro. Visit her site for information on a great part-time, full-time-anytime business. She knows what she's talking about.

http://www.dovemang.com

*Attn: Ezine Editors/Site owners*
You have permission to reprint this article in your ezine or on your website as long as you print the complete article and leave all the links and resource box in place. You cannot modify the content in any way.

Keep Sales Simple

2009-01-23T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Jay Conners

For those of us working in the exciting world of sales, we are all too familiar with the pressures of meeting our daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly goals. This pressure can sometimes cause us to loose focus on the simple things that made us successful to begin with.

When we make a sales presentation, it is all too essential to look and sound the part. A professional appearance and product knowledge are to very important ingredients involved in sales.

But don't ever lose sight of the fact that sales is supposed to be fun!

A personal story . . .

I can remember a time a few years back, when I was managing a bank branch inside a supermarket, otherwise known as In-Store banking.

At that time, we had daily goals that we were required to meet, and those goals were unit and dollar driven. It was a fast paced environment and every technique we could think of was incorporated into our sales. Nothing was taken for granted.

Including the simple stuff.

One particular afternoon I received a phone call from a woman who informed me that she was new to the area, and she was shopping around for a bank.

We had a pleasant conversation, and I explained to her all of our products starting with our free checking, and ending with our more exclusive products.

Once the conversation was over, she thanked me and told me she would consider us.

I thanked her as well, and ended by telling her my name again, and that she could ask for me, if she decided to come in.

The next day, that same woman walked into my branch and asked for me, she reminded me of the conversation we had the day before, and than proceeded to tell me that she came in because I was so nice on the telephone.

The fact is, I was really nice on the telephone, I knew I had a potential customer on the phone and I killed her with kindness. Not because I was being slick, but because it was easy, it was simple, and I had fun doing it. And it worked.

There was no selling involved in that conversation. I was just being a nice person.

Salesmanship is important, but people want kindness to.

My point is, take some of the pressure off of yourself and start having fun! Be nice, smile. It is not always necessary to act and speak so professionally, it can come off fake, and worst of all boring. So starting tomorrow, take a load off, roll up your sleeves, smile, laugh out loud, and most of all have fun and keep it simple!

Jay Conners has more than fifteen years experience in the banking and mortgage industry as a loan officer and sales manager. He is the owner of http://www.jconners.com, a mortgage resource site. He also owns http://www.callprospect.com

The Quotcanned Sales Pitchquot Myth

2009-01-22T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Virden Thornton

Canned or scripted sales approaches are rarely successful, because one size does not fit all in selling.

Studies conducted by the public opinion researcher, social scientist and author Daniel Yankelovich in the late '70's and the Stanford Research Institute's VALS (values, attitudes and life-styles) study that assessed buying motives in the early '80's, indicate that there are at least five distinct categories of purchasers or individual buying modes.

These studies provided insight into how adults communicate, are persuaded and how they make buying decisions.

It's almost impossible to create a verbatim sales pitch to address the variety of issues (sometimes conflicting) in each of these categories. Therefore a successful sales or service industry professional must learn through extensive in-depth probing what type of buyer he is dealing with and then create a custom-tailored presentation based specifically on the answers he receives from his probing.

Please check out our self-directed learning system that will help you replace canned presentations with a simple six-step selling process where answering objections and closing the sale often take care of themselves:

http://www.TheSellingEdge.com/manual5.htm

VIRDEN THORNTON is the founder and President of The $elling Edge®, Inc. a firm specializing in sales, customer relations, and management training and development. Clients have included Sears Optical, Eastman Kodak, IBM, Deloitte & Touché, Bank One, Jefferson Pilot, and Wal-Mart to name a few. Virden is the author of Prospecting: The Key To Sales Success and the best selling Building & Closing the Sale, Fifty-Minute series books and Close That Sale, a video/audio tape series published by Crisp Publicantions a dividion of Thompson Learning. He has also authored a client acclaimed Self-Directed Learning series of sales, coaching & team development, telemarketing, and personal productivity training guides. To obtain a substantial discount on two of Virden's new manuals, 101 Sales Myths and Organizing For Sales Success, check out the listings on The $elling Edge, Inc. website at: http://www.TheSellingEdge.com/books1.htm.

Note: You can contact Virden at: virden@TheSellingEdge.com.

Sales And The Law Of Attraction

2009-01-21T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Bob Doyle

I'm about to challenge your belief system, or at least I'm going to try.

I'm going to tell you exactly why you make a sale, and why you do not.

By doing this, I'm going to give you access to some extraordinary principles that seem to fly in the face of logic, but nonetheless are at work in your life every moment of every day.

There is a Law put in place that permeates the entire Universe. It is called the Law of Attraction. While this idea is generally associated with the new age and metaphysical communities, it is in fact, a Law. This means that there is not one entity in the Universe that is "immune" to it.

To understand the Law of Attraction on a practical level, you need to have a basic understanding of the building blocks of our Universe. Specifically, you need to know that at our most basic physical level, we are 99% empty space. We are in fact, pure Energy. And this Energy has a specific characteristic that if we understand it fully, we can use this characteristic to create a life beyond our wildest dreams. And that includes making more sales, with more commission, and more effortlessly than you would have thought possible.

The Law of Attraction is all about this characteristic that I mentioned. That is that Energy attracts like Energy. I understand that we're talking about non-tangible things here, and that some of this is beyond the scope of what you've thought about before, thus this all might seem very far out. However, I urge you to continue reading so that you can see that regardless of what you think about it, it IS at work in your life, and thus you have the power to redirect anything and everything in your experience.

All Energy vibrates. Everything has a specific and unique frequency. You need to understand that EVERYTHING is Energy, including your thoughts, dreams, and passions. When two vibrations are in resonance, they attract each other.

This manifests in subtle ways in our lives every day. We'll be thinking about someone and they will call. You'll think about something you want, and suddenly you obtain it through completely unexpected means. How does this happen?

Every thought and feeling you have has a vibration. It's resonating out into the Universe at a specific frequency, basically seeking a matching vibration. If you're thinking about talking to a person, and really feeling what that would be like, you are literally attracting the circumstances for that feeling to manifest physically. You are attracting a situation that is in perfect resonance with what you're vibrating. When you do that, the Universe WILL respond appropriately every time.

Given this, imagine the possibilities as it applies to sales!

First, you have to understand that this is not about making other people do what you want them to do "against their will". To the contrary, it is about learning to literally ATTRACT the appropriate people who WANT to buy from you. Most people work far too hard trying to FIND the appropriate buyer, expending time and Energy on people who are not a vibrational match for them.

Think about that. Wouldn't it be nice to NOT have to cold call all the time? Wouldn't it be nice to know that nearly everyone you deal with is going to make a purchase, or even be a lifetime customer? Of course it would.

It's actually quite a simple process, however not always so easy for everyone. Many people have all kinds of "stuff" (limiting beliefs) about what is possible or necessary with regards to succeeding in sales. They've learned that nothing short of hard work will result in success, and they have had many models in their lives that have demonstrated this to be "true". However, there is NO Truth to it. It's simply a belief. And if that belief runs through you, it affects your energetic vibration your frequency and limits what you can attract into your experience b>no matter how much you consciously want something different.

To attract something into your experience, such as a multitude of sales, you have to go from "wanting" it, to feeling that you already have it. There is a very specific vibration to "wanting". It implies you don't have it. The feeling that you don't have it causes your vibration to attract only more of "you don't have it". It's simply responding appropriately as it always will.

Instead you have to take the idea of "visualizing the sale" to a whole new level because simple visualization without emotion does not serve to attract anything. The attraction starts at the level of your emotion. Changing your emotion is what changes your frequency, much like a radio, and thus changes what you will attract.

You will need to be clear exactly how you want to feel as a result of making a sale. Are you? Don't make this about the money. Money carries a lot of "stuff" for many people. Besides, money is not the end goal here. What will you do with the money? How will spending that money make you FEEL? To the extent that you can conjure up that feeling, you then change your "attraction frequency", thus you begin to attract to you the circumstances necessary to perpetuate or match that feeling that you have.

You're going to makes sales from time to time whether or not you are intentionally trying to use the Law of Attraction. But it's still going to be determined by what you're vibrating. Depending on where you have your attention during the course of the week, and how you're feeling, you will attract all sorts of people. Some will be a match and others won't. However, you can be more intentional about whom you attract by putting yourself in the feeling of what it will be like to work with enthusiastic people who just can't WAIT to buy from you!

What counts is how you feel.

Sometimes you'll be confronted with issues of "deserving". You'll realize that somewhere within you, you have a belief that extraordinary success is beyond you, or that you aren't worthy of it somehow. This is another limiting emotion and belief that CAN be eliminated with a little training.

Hopefully, you're selling because you love selling. You're selling because it's who you are. Many people "sell" because they feel it's a good way to make money, but it's far from what they believe their purpose to be. This will always hold them back to some extent from the success they desire. Their vibrational frequency is all over the map as they go through various "roles" during their day. This is the recipe for mediocrity.

But if you believe you are here to sell I invite you to begin to intentionally envision unreasonable success for yourself. But know what success means to you. What do you truly want as a result of a successful sales career? Is it time? Freedom? Peace? For the most part, these are the types of things people are really seeking from financial success.

Again, I realize that this process sounds very bizarre to many. It doesn't seem, on the surface, to make sense. But we are not talking at the level of "surface". We're looking much deeper level of what we're truly made up of beyond the skin and bones we consider ourselves to be. When you can open your mind, you will begin to tap into an incredible power that has ALWAYS been at work in your life, and has always been at your disposal.

Unfortunately most people are never taught these things, because not that many people know anything about them. This doesn't make them any less true. Further, there are many who DO intentionally use these principles every day and know unreasonable success in ALL areas of their lives.

And now, you know the "secret" as well. You can scoff at it, and go right back to doing things how you've always done them. Win some, lose some. Or you can just give it a try for a while and see what happens. It costs you nothing, and can gain you everything.

To summarize:

Feel the sale. Visualize EXACTLY how you'd like your sale to transpire, but pay total attention to how you FEEL about experiencing that sale in the "now" moment of visualizing it. Make the feelings as intense and realistic as possible. Imagine the transaction on every sensory level any sights, sounds, smell, feelings, etc. that you can generate will help you "fine tune" the vibration so that you attract exactly what you want.

Bob Doyle is the CEO and founder of Boundless Living and the developer of the "Wealth Beyond Reason" program, which provides a continuing education of the physics of wealth, abundance, and joyous living through the Law of Attraction. http://wealthbeyondreason.net

Highincome Seller Behaviors 5 Attitudes A Sales Executive Must Have To Close The Deal

2009-01-20T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Bill A Caskey

Read almost any book about sales and you'll see some reference to, "you need to have a good attitude." So what does that mean? Sometimes my most effective selling is when I have a "bad attitude" -- when I'm more discerning and skeptical about whether a prospect has money or is willing to make the change. I get tougher then and force the prospect to fit into my procedure. So for the purpose of this article, I'd like to redefine attitude and not talk about it in terms of good or bad, but instead "what attitudes to have."

1. My value can be found nowhere else.

Most high-income sellers are in the business-to-business environment. And in that atmosphere, you must bring value with your knowledge, experience, and observations in a market. So even though you may sell the same type of solution that another company sells, your solution is enriched by you being in the process. High achievers understand that their products or services are better because of their expertise and wisdom. The elite high-income seller has the attitude of "my total solution brings value because the prospect won't be able to find my value from anyone else."

2. If I want more, I contribute more.

The highest achievers realize something that the average performers don't. If you want to earn more money, you have to contribute more value and solve more problems for your customer. We say in our training, "if you want to make more money, solve bigger problems." So when you work on your quarterly goals, stop working on what you can get out of the market and start working on what you can contribute to the market in terms of value and solutions to problems. Then, when you make a sales call or attend a sales prospect meeting, you won't be a needy, begging sales person. You'll be a contributor at a higher value.

3. There is a never-ending supply of client pain.

The elite sellers--the top one percent--know that even when a market is soft (no budgets) it doesn't mean there's no pain in the customer base. So the high achiever is always focused on the problems that he or she can solve and not focused on the budgets that aren't there. Budgets follow beliefs. If the prospect believes he has a problem and believes it's worth solving, budgets have a way of making an appearance.

4. My baggage doesn't matter.

Let's face the fact that we all have unwanted baggage. That little tinge of fear when we get ready to ask a question that we know we should ask, but some how it just doesn't roll off our tongue. The average performer decides he will wait to ask the question later. The high sales performer doesn't let his baggage get in the way of the right question to ask (or the right comment to make). In a sick sort of way, your baggage gets in the way of your customer getting his problem solved. You don't want to have that on your mind when you go to bed tonight, do you?

5. I am hyper-discerning about my time.

It's easy to say, "be discerning," but with all the distractions and demands on our time, it's hard to execute that attitude. So what do high sales achievers do with their time? In the sales environment they create standards of conduct that they demand from the prospect. If on the first phone call, the prospect doesn't want to share any of the problems they're trying to fix then they have broken the first code of conduct and the high achieving sales executive should move on. If, on the first face-to-face meeting, the prospect refuses to tell how much money this problem costs them to have, then again, they've broken a rule of conduct. The sales executive must move on. Set your code of conduct on what you expect from prospects and don't deviate. That makes it easier for you to 'let go' at the appropriate time.

During his 19+ years of experience as a leader, experimenter and coach for hundreds of B2B sales teams, Bill Caskey doesn't blame prospects for how they treat most sales organizations for not seeing their value, for treating them like servants, and for sucking up their expertise and taking it somewhere else and getting a lower price. Sales organizations play a part in this game too! Our sales behavior is the problem not our clients. Learn how to play the high-income seller's new rules at http://www.theelitesellerblog.com.

Say What

2009-01-19T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by T.J. Schier

While on vacation with my family in New York City this summer, my kids asked why people from various parts of the country speak differentlywe live in Texas and have relatives in the Northeast and friends from the Midwest that the kids interact with frequently. They find it quite amusing to hear someone say "R-ange" while "or-ange" is spoken at our house. They also like to hear people pronounce words that end in er with an "a" sound as in "rollah skating."

Putting on my operations-and-training hat, it occurred to me that the way people learn to speak, and the accent they acquire, is similar to the way new employees are trained in restaurants. Essentially, we all are "trained" in the English language the same way. In restaurants, the training programs are all very similar as well.

However, the results people realize differ dramatically. In regards to speaking, although the training materials are the same, parents' accents (similar to the environment people learn in) often transfer to the children. In a restaurant, the training materials and programs are the same, but as we all know, the results are a direct reflection of the environment and standards upheld by the manager. A great training program executed by an average manager results in an average employee at best.

I've often said there are four components to running a successful restaurant: who you hire, how they are trained, who trains them, and the environment they work in. Hiring, by far, is the most important. After all, polishing (training) a piece of junk simply results in a shiny piece of junk.

After that, however, lasting effective results are achieved not only by a great training program, but more importantly, a great environment. We've all undoubtedly worked in companies that didn't have a great initial training program, but if the restaurant was run right, we learned how to be great employees.

Therefore, it's not the training program that's the problem, it's the manager! I'm amazed how many times I speak to companies and hear the managers say things such as, "menu knowledge of our staff is terrible" and so on, yet they are waiting for a new training initiative to fix their issue. Demand greatness, hire for it, train it, and you'll get ityou don't need a new training program for it.

That translates into any language!

T.J. Schier is service professional, consultant and speaker with over 20 years experience in operations and training. Founder and president of Incentivize Solutions and podTraining, T.J. has helped numerous clients enhance their service and training programs and spoken to tens of thousands of managers, franchisees and operators in various fields. Visit http://IncentivizeSolutions.com/ for more info motivating today's employees, training today's generation and delivering outstanding guest service; or http://podTraining.us/, a unique new system and the foundation of 'i-learning' - using the device of today's generation, the iPod - to train your workforce.

30 Client Referrals Or More How To Get Them

2009-01-18T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Daryl Logullo

Do you get all of the referrals you want?

Most professionals don't because they're afraid. Afraid they'll hurt their client relationships. Afraid they won't cultivate any new business. Or afraid they'll appear cheap or salesy.

It's an imagined psychological line in the sand you're afraid of crossing with people. It's in a concept I teach called "D.V.", or Damage Verge. You're frightened that by bringing up the word "referrals" you'll push your clients, cross that line, and create damage.

Let me give you an example.

Of 5,200 investment and insurance professionals surveyed earlier this year by my firm Strategic Impact!, an overwhelming 79 percent said they rely on referrals as their primary source of new business. Eighty-three percent of those professionals had at least 100 clients. Yet the median number of referrals they received from their clients over a 12-month period was just 6 to 12! That means that, on average, only about 10% of their clients were generating referrals. That's horrible! And being passive causes it.

If clients are your best source of new business then the figure indicates a tremendous problem. The question is why? My answer is Damage Verge: A psychological barrier where you imagine the worst possible thing will happen if you ask a client for a referral.

Before you can even think about how to bring the subject up, your brain kicks into warp speed and says, "I can't ask them for a referral; they might get mad at me. . . feel upset. . . be uncomfortable. . . [insert your excuse here]. . . or worst yet, they'll just say, 'No!'"

What I'm referring to is nothing more than your conscious mind gets into the act, and you wrongly start envisioning that worst-case scenario coming to life. You see yourself offending someone, being presumptuous, asking the wrong way, feeling embarrassed, and finally ruining a prized relationship.

Four ways to break through

1. Be more in tune to your client's communication style. The Damage Verge is different for every client and customer, depending on that person's communication style. Still other clients get instantly turned off, regardless of what you try to discuss with them. Understanding your clients' varying styles of communication and receptiveness to your goal of building more business will go a long way in cultivating referrals.

2. Know how to 'ask' for referrals. Nothing evokes more fear in professionals than the thought of sitting down with a client and "asking them" for referrals. So don't! That's right--don't ask for referrals. Focus on earning personal introductions from clients. The key is that you must test and confirm with every client that they are finding value in you and your work. Use a monthly meeting, lunch, or quarterly review to touch base. I ask one simple, very powerful question: "Mrs. Client, tell me: How am I doing in my relationship with you?" The answer allows the referral door to swing wide open--or temporarily close tight. Either way, you've got a much better read on the relationship.

3. Practice with your C-level clients, and then move up. Practice on relationships where the stakes aren't so high. Take some of the pressure off yourself by building self-confidence and enthusiasm--and seeing results--with B-level and C-level clients. It's highly unlikely that you would ever offend someone who has confirmed your value. But, if you do upset someone, let it be a C-level client that wouldn't be irreplaceable if they should take their business elsewhere.

4. Give clients a reason to share you with others. I believe in the 80/20 Rule when it comes to client referrals. It says that 80 percent of your clients utilize only about 20 percent of the services you have to offer. One way to counter this is by bundling current services as "value-added" extras--this shows appreciation for your current client relationship while simultaneously giving your clients more reason to suggest your services to others. Remember, you want to introduce the subject of referrals with your clients without adversely affecting the relationship at all. You want to get near their damage verge, but you must never cross it. It's like stepping near thin ice--without ever falling through. Stay in the area where the relationship provides enough support for what you're saying--and don't overload it.

Daryl T. Logullo is the Founder of Strategic Impact! a referral consultancy located in Vero Beach, Fla. He concentrates heavily on alliance and referral building strategies for today's professional. Get a Free Report, "The Most Powerful Referral 'Secret' Ever Discovered," instantly delivered at http://www.strategic-impact.com/Rule

Major Obstacles To Selling

2009-01-17T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Kurt Mortensen

Beware of these common areas that will cause you to lose the deal.

1. Negative expectation or prejudging
Takes all enthusiasm out of sales person
Expectations

2. Lack of Sincerity
More concerned with earning commission
Concentrate on helping the customer

3. Different Wave Length
Analytical Vs emotional
Use tag team sales.

4. You can never sell to someone you don't like and vice versa
People skills
Learn to serve

5. Tell a prospect is wrong or arguing with them
Never argue with a prospect
A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still

6. Discussing personal subjects
Politics
Religion

7. Knocking the Competition
Unprofessional
Lose credibility

8. Making promises you can't keep
Engage in overselling
Never say something a product can't do

9. Not building the dream
What are the benefits of your product
WIIFM

10. Don't give up
Close 5 times
Persistence

Power Tools of Closers

Accepts 100% responsibility for their results deal with challenges and losers are making excuses. Winners work Damn hard

Above average ambition and desire to sell. Intense burning desire and commitment.

High levels of empathy and they really care about their customer We care about customers and don't sell something that is not good for them. Customers can see through us if we are not concerned about their well-being.

Intensely goal oriented

They know how much they are going to earn and how much they have to sell. If you don't know it is like shooting at a target in the fog.

They have above average will power and determination to succeed. There is not such thing as something for nothing. Most people make their maximum earnings after their 40th year and did doing their jog extremely well. to fast money.

Believe in themselves and in their company. You can not get a customer to believe in your product more than you do. Have to put your heart into it. Top sales people love what they are selling.

Always honest with themselves and with other people.
Average person can pick up insincerity and falsehood.

Visualization - create a clear mental picture of the person you want to be and the goals you want to accomplish see yourself as confident and a good closer relaxed and see your prospects and how they will react and yourself enjoying all the rewards.

Ask yourself after every call what did I do right and what would I do differently. Whatever we think about and review we have a tendency to repeat. Losers think and talk about failures. Winners think and talk about successes.

Resolve to pay the price to succeed.
Decide exactly what you want in life.
Determine the price you are going to have to pay to get it.

Conclusion

Learning how to persuade and influence will make the difference between hoping for a better income and having a better income. It is the missing puzzle piece that will crack the code to dramatically increase your income, improve your relationships, and help you get what you want, when you want, and win friends for life. Ask yourself how much money and income you have lost because of your inability to persuade and influence. Think about it. Sure you've seen some success, but think of the times you couldn't get it done. Has there ever been a time when you did not get your point across? Were you unable to convince someone to do something? Have you reached your full potential? Are you able to motivate yourself and others to achieve more and accomplish their goals? What about your relationships? Imagine being able to overcome objections before they happen, know what your prospect is thinking and feeling, feel more confident in your ability to persuade.

Go to http://www.prewealth.com/iq and take the free Persuasion IQ analysis to determine where you rank and what area of the sales cycle you need to improve in order to close every sale! Take your test now at http://www.prewealth.com/iq

Kurt Mortensen teaches over a hundred techniques to give you the ability to effectively work with every customer that walks in your door. Professional success, personal happiness, leadership potential, and income depend on the ability to persuade, influence, and motivate others. Kurt Mortensen's trademark is Magnetic Persuasion; rather than convincing others, he teaches that you should attract them, just like a magnet attracts metal filings. He teaches that sales have changed and the consumer has become exponentially more skeptical and cynical within the last five years. Most persuaders are using only 2 or 3 persuasion techniques when there are actually 120 available! Learning how to persuade and influence will make the difference between hoping for a better income and having a better income. Go to http://www.prewealth.com/iq and take the free Persuasion IQ analysis.

Education Versus Training

2009-01-16T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by T.J. Schier

Many people don't understand the difference between education and training. Education is giving out information and communicating to your trainees. Training is about practice and building skills. Today's younger generation of employees wants to be trained, not educated.

Problem is, if we don't educate them before we train them, it could lead to problems. Think about how you learned to drive. You need knowledge of the laws and then the actual training of getting behind the wheel. Same can be said for learning about the birds and the bees--if the education part isn't done effectively, the training could lead to undesirable results!

Mark Flores, director of ops for Chuck E. Cheese's, uses the macaroni-and-cheese example to demonstrate the difference. We've all made mac & cheese plenty of times in our lives, but if we don't follow the instructions exactly, we might get macaroni soup, crunchy macaroni, or something else other than what we intended. So how do we deliver education and training to ensure consistency?

Manuals. Boooooooooring! We do need documentation, but make it fun! Include tons of photos and minimal text so it's more of a comic strip look. People are more likely to remember what they see versus what they read, so retention of information is better. Additionally, it's easier to translate into other languages.

Videos. Better than reading for most employees, but they need to be short segments (3--5 minutes maximum) with tons of visual image changes. Our employees today are used to watching CNN with talking video, a crawler message along the bottom, and the weather forecast on the side--all while having four online chats with their friends. Long, drawn-out videos lose their attention quickly. Watch a segment and go practice what you learn. You can watch the next segment after that.

Online. Golden Corral, White Castle, Sea Island Shrimp House, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Chuck E. Cheese's are all using or testing e-learning. Since it is self-paced, it goes at the speed of the learner. Be careful: As we've seen with e-books, it's not too comfortable to read a book on a PC, so keep the text to a minimum. Review questions can be built in as a checkpoint for the learner to advance to the next section. Great way to replace video and print, but it's still not "training."

Tests. We all hate tests! To ensure consistency in tests, keep them simple and visual (use as many pictures as possible), and use multiple-choice, ordering, or true-false format to ensure consistency in grading. Most of our employees no longer take fill-in-the-blank or essay tests. Ensure they have the basics down. Do all your trainers actually grade tests the same way?

All the above forms of "training" are really just education, yet most managers think it's training. We didn't get our driver's license after reading the book, watching the video, and passing a test--we had to demonstrate our skills to the authorities before we received permission to drive. Education is the necessary evil that must come first, though.

Do we follow the same format with our employees? Many companies do not--we just memorize a bunch of useless information the guest cares little about and then we're ready. You need to be validated on the skills it takes to do the job and re-validated periodically in the future. Knowing the job and doing the job are two entirely different things--and the guest notices.

Skill Validation

Having the new employee demonstrate skills for a manager shows you two things: how good the trainer was, and that the employee can do the functions of the job. We all might think we have the same definition of "greet the guest" or "suggestive sell," but when we see our employees in action, we find it's all across the board. If we don't coach them through the skill, they will simply do what they see at other restaurants (which often isn't good). Conduct these validations every 90--180 days to keep standards top of mind.

People train people. Just because someone is a good employee doesn't mean they will be a good trainer. The proper tools to educate will help, but the payoff is in the trainer demonstrating, coaching, and validating the skill of a new employee. To illustrate this point to your team, ask your trainers to train you on how to tie your shoes or put on a shirt. Act like you know nothing about it. Point being, it's a simple task we can all do in our sleep--like ringing up orders or making burgers--but it's incredibly hard to train someone else how to do it.

Macaroni and cheese anyone?

Cemap Mock Exam Papers

2009-01-15T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Joseph Kocsis

Are you looking for CeMAP mock exam papers? If you are interested in becoming a mortgage advisor but finding it hard to pass the cemap exams, we can help!

Our five-day cemap training courses in London are based on groups of around 10 people for ease of control and ability to interact with the tutor. The courses are extremely focused, intensive and prepare delegates for the CeMAP 1,2,3 exams. We fast track candidates in five-days per intensive course, in hotels throughout many regions of the UK, including London, Coventry, Sheffield, Manchester and the North West, ensuring that one of our CeMAP courses will be near to you.

Being in the Financial Services Industry for over 20 years, many people have asked me what it takes to become a qualified mortgage advisor. As the Marketing Director of Money Marketing Limited, a company that trains hundreds of budding UK mortgage advisers per month, I feel that I am well qualified to answer that question.

" It takes dedication, focus, hard work, the ability to strive for success and a little help from us on our cemap training courses that contain hundreds of CeMAP mock exam papers."

So what criteria should you use when deciding on your future career direction? Well, try asking yourself a few of the following questions:

· Do you think that you would enjoy helping people with their finances?
· Would you prefer to be an employee?
· Would you like to be self-employed?
· Are you determined to become a high earner?
· Are you intent on being successful?
· Would you like to be in charge of your own destiny?

A 'yes' answer to most of these could mean that you should consider investigating how to become a mortgage adviser but before you do, let us look a little further. The start to becoming a UK mortgage advisor is passing a mortgage advice qualification and in my opinion the most recognised one in the UK is the Certificate in Mortgage Advice and Practice (CeMAP)

Do you need to have a degree to pass the exams? You will not need academic qualifications to be able to pass the Cemap exams but one thing you will need is a strong desire to succeed in a highly competitive industry.

If you are looking to start a career in Financial Services as a mortgage advisor but are finding it hard to get your foot in the door, let our dedicated team of industry-experienced CeMAP training professionals lead the way.

We successfully help individuals to pass their mortgage advice qualifications in literally days of intensive, fast track cemap training in London and many parts of the UK. We have people travelling to our cemap training venues from all parts of the country including Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Having said that, it can be easy for the gifted people who are just natural at passing academic exams. I recently spent a week with a group of 10 delegates on a CEMAP 2 & 3 training course and the range of abilities on the course was extremely diverse. The challenge here for the cemap trainer was to get them all to the same standard by the end of the week and prepare them for their exams, the week after. Nine out of the ten passed their relevant exams.

The challenges of the CeMAP exams are that you need to learn the qualification content and pass the exams at 70% and there were literally hundreds of CeMAP mock exam papers available but that's not all. Many people coming into the mortgage industry have not sat any exams for years and in some cases not since they left school.

Our CeMAP training courses are built for individuals who are new to the mortgage industry and as a consequence, we teach the course content and mock examine you on a daily basis. The advantage to this system is obvious, not only are you learning the course content but the exam techniques as well. With strengths and weaknesses identified on a daily basis, it is easy to identify the areas that require extra tuition during the week. This proven system allows us to help hundreds of people get through their Certificate in Mortgage Advice & Practice (CeMAP) exams per month.

Do take care, as the route to becoming a mortgage adviser could be fraught with dangers for the unprepared and under researched person, as the journey could be a long and arduous one. Care should be taken when choosing the company for the initial CeMAP training as many organisations are strictly in the business of offering either a two-day revision course or a self-study CeMAP examination course that in our opinion is not enough.

Furthermore, there are unscrupulous organisations that may try to lure individuals into offering cheap CeMAP training courses and then taking £5,000, £6,000 or even £9,000 off them in an attempt to recruit them into their mortgage business as mortgage advisers or offering them expensive and unnecessary mortgage franchises.

Money Marketing Limited is a training school, strictly in the business of offering CeMAP training courses and then further developing individuals with our advanced mortgage training modules in their quest to become professional mortgage advisers or even self-employed mortgage brokers.

The author has been in the UK Financial Services Industry for more than 20 years. Follow the link http://www.cemap-training.org.uk for further information.

Salesmen Keep Irrelevant Opinions To Yourself

2009-01-14T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Dr. Gary S. Goodman

I had nothing better to do the other day at the airport than to study the techniques of a fellow who was promoting premium charge cards. It seemed to me he was doing nearly everything imaginable to scare away business.

A gentleman sitting next to me, about 15 feet away from the vendor, called out: "Can I ask you a few questions?"

The reply: "No, I can't leave my postwellokay, uh, why don't I just give you this brochure."

The next thing he did was to strike up a nasty conversation with a man who was wearing a bold USC shirt.

"They're going to lose you know," the card seller taunted.

(His words were prophetic. Texas, as you know, prevailed in the national championship game, later that evening.)

Still, what a bozo!

How can you hope to sell anything by making people feel defensive?

I have seen this behavior not only in salespeople, but also in customer service providers and other functionariesor should I call them, dysfunctionaries. They inject their biases and opinions into their business conversations without having a clue as to how offensive they sound.

They should go at it from a very different angle. Even if somebody asks them their opinion, they should say, "Actually, I don't have a position on that," and shut up.

They might be pleasantly surprised to find that suddenly they will get along with nearly everyone, and they'll also close a lot more sales.

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service. A frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide, Gary's programs are offered by UCLA Extension and by numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. Gary is headquartered in Glendale, California. He can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com

Capture Those Sales That Get Away

2009-01-13T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Larry Klein

Every producer has had the experience of losing a sale. You're left scratching your head knowing that your proposal was right on, and the prospect should now be a client. What went wrong? Although there can be many reasons that the sale did not close, in this month's article, I will talk about one element in particular--your lack of credibility.

Don't be insulted, I'm not addressing you personally. But please realize that in many cases, you simply are not credible in the eyes of the prospect. They have no prior knowledge of you, they were not referred to you by a trusted friend, and given the financial horror stories they read about in the newspaper, they are leery of you.

From the prospect's point of view, are you any different than any other financial advisor in town? Is there any reason they should trust you? Often, we expect people to trust us just because we know we are nice people. If you want to capture more sales, you will need to prove yourself.

Can you overcome this prospect skepticism, even though they just met you?

The most powerful way in our society to overcome skepticism and to establish yourself as a trustworthy expert is to get published or have others write about you. Before you decide that this solution won't work for you, I'll show you that you do not need to write a word.

Think about it. Don't people believe what they read in the newspaper? Don't they automatically trust news reporters, columnists and authors? You can join these trusted ranks.

First, you can get interviewed repeatedly by your local press. In the last six months, I have been interviewed as the "expert" in two local newspapers, two national journals and one website. I really don't know any more about financial planning, insurance and investments than you do. I do however know how to get the press to pay attention to me. There is a simple process of sending press releases that gets the press to pay attention to me. Although describing this process and showing you a sample press release would be too lengthy for this article, I do have this material available. Please visit the website below.

Secondly, you can write your own booklets. I ghost write an 18-page booklet on annuities used by producers all across the country. We print it with their name and biography. It gives them instant credibility and their closing ratio soars. I just got this email from a user this week, "Your annuity marketing system works beautifully!! My annuity sales are skyrocketing." I did not teach this producer one thing about sales or annuities. I merely gave him a tool that positioned him as an expert in his local market. He now has credibility and he closes more sales.

Third, you can write a book. Actually, you do not need to write one word. I have seen estimates that up to 20% of books published are not written by the author whose name is on the book. These books are ghost-written. You can do the same. You can hire a ghost-writer to write what you want. You do not need to start from scratch and the work is already done, as there are some books on the market, already written, that can be printed with your name and picture.

Use these three recommendations to get credibility, establish yourself as an expert, and close more sales.

Larry Klein CPA/PFS, CFP®, Certified Retirement Financial Advisor, Harvard MBA helps advisors get wealthy by being great advisors. He is co-creator of the Advanced IRA Rollover and Distribution Training and creator of the Certified Retirement Financial Advisor designation and training. Over 14,000 financial professionals use his marketing and lead systems and attend his educational programs to obtain more and better clients, serve them better, increase sales of financial products and services, increase commissions and fees, and earn more while working less. His programs are in use by brokers and planners at most major securities firms, many NASD firms, and by hundreds of independent insurance agents and captive agents with large, well-known insurance companies. Details on his winning marketing systems and his complete book on Marketing Financial Services to Seniors are available at http://www.nfcom.com.

Increase Sales Overcoming Barriers

2009-01-12T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Richard Gorham

Ever thought to yourself, "If only my team members would complete the tasks that we mutually agreed to in our action plan."

Most managers have felt this way about certain employees at some point in time.

Let's face it, some employees have a very hard time consistently executing tasks that "should" be relatively simple to complete.

So what are the barriers getting in the way of their success?

Actually, there are several types of barriers - but perhaps not the typical sort of barriers that you may be thinking.

Barriers can be classified in three major categories. Each category identifies strong barriers that, if not quickly identified and corrected by the team leader, can negatively impact the progress of your team.

The Three Major Types of Barriers are: (Hint: Remember A, B, C)

A-ttitude Barriers

B-ehavioral Barriers

C-onceptual Barriers

Attitude Barriers Every employee must take ownership of his or her own attitude.

A manager is NOT in charge of anyone's attitude except her own. If an employee has a poor and non-productive attitude and is not willing to correct it, that is a personal choice and that person needs to be held accountable for that decision.

Quite simply, there are too many quality people who are willing to learn and add value to an organization, for a leader to invest time and money on anyone who makes the conscious "choice" to portray a poor attitude.

Keep in mind, if a leader does NOT hold team members accountable for non-productive attitudes, then he/she has in essence told the team "it's ok".

Employees' displaying poor attitudes is NOT ok. A leader should never allow herself to be seen as "sanctioning" this kind of behavior.

Here is a great way to communicate expectations about "owning your attitude" to your team.

Go to any hardware store and buy the largest coat hook that you can find. "The Hook" will be a visual reminder to your team members that you expect them to leave any personal issues or poor attitudes on this hook prior to beginning their day.

(Suggestion: You might want to paint The Hook a bright silver or gold color, and perhaps even mount The Hook on a nice piece of stained wood. Hang The Hook in a common area, away from customer view, where employees will see it often and be reminded throughout the day about your expectations of leaving poor attitudes on The Hook - as they do not belong anywhere in the workplace.)

When you introduce "The Hook", and your expectations relating to attitude, you might say something like:

"Rest assured, if you each will make sure to leave all your personal issues on the hook each morning when you arrive, I will take personal responsibility for guarding it on your behalf. I will watch over it for you throughout the day, and I promise that every night when you are ready to return home, it will still be there - just waiting for you to take it back home with you. That is my solemn promise to each of you." :)

Behavioral Barriers

Behavioral barriers equal actions not taken or completed, which hinder the achievement of maximum results.

Behavioral barriers refer to an employee not completing critical sales management tasks as expected - despite having mutually agreed to do so.

Managers spend most of their time coaching to behaviors - working to increase results of the mid-level and low-level producers.

Examples of behavioral barriers include techniques, strategies and skills such as:

Prospecting
Profiling
Telemarketing/scripting
Overcoming objections
Asking for the business
Closing the sale
Following up and managing the relationship

Leaders who are very successful in overcoming behavioral barriers follow this three-step approach in this sequential order:

- Managers must TEACH employees what behaviors (actions) are expected

- Managers must COACH employees to build their confidence to master sales management behaviors

- Managers must EXPECT and hold employees accountable for completing the desired behaviors on a consistent basis

Conceptual Barriers

Conceptual barriers are the absolute most difficult barriers to overcome.

Conceptual barriers are the barriers that are right behind the eyes, DEEP within the brain. "Beliefs" which were planted at a very young age and re-enforced over a long period of time - which is why they are so hard to "dislodge".

Here are a few quick examples of conceptual barriers:

(Think back to your own childhood. Were you ever taught any of the following rules?)

- Don't talk to strangers
- It is impolite to talk about money
- Never interrupt important people
- Wait to be asked

Now think about what you are asking your sales people to do.

- Telemarket (cold call)
- Profile/Prequalify based on ability to buy
- Create new relationships

Do you see how many of the things we were taught as children fly directly in the face of today's daily sales management expectations?

It is no wonder why some folks have such a difficult time adopting certain routine sales management practices. They are quite literally "handicapped" by a belief system that limits their potential for success.

As a leader it's your responsibility to approach performance issues with a clear understanding of these predetermined belief systems. Armed with this knowledge you can more quickly address issues in a way that can help both the sales rep and your entire organization.

Richard Gorham is the founder and President of Leadership-Tools, Inc. His web site, http://www.leadership-tools.com is dedicated to providing free tools and resources for today's aspiring leaders. Offering high-quality tools in the areas of Business Planning, Leadership Development, Customer Service, Sales Management and Team Building.

Sales Training Tip How To Sell More In Todays Competitive Markets

2009-01-09T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Gavin Ingham

Question:

I received your newsletter. Thanks again. I wanted to ask you a question. I work for a parent magazine that is distributed for free to parents throughout the local area. I sell advertising space in the magazine. Our magazine has been around the longest. It started in (our area) and has branched out to include (surrounding areas).

However, there are 2 other parent magazines that are distributed in the same area. One of the magazines has been in our county since 2000. The other magazine (has been around in maybe the same time frame)

1. How do I convince the advertisers that our magazine is a good place to advertise? I receive a lot of objections that include things like:

"We already advertise in ABC magazine and it is distributed in the same way as yours."

2. I go to all of the advertisers that advertise in the other magazines to try and get them to advertise in ours. I also go to companies that don't advertise in the magazines and sometimes even have better results because I don't get that objection. However, with the companies that don't advertise in the parent magazines I have to convince them that advertising in a parent magazine is good because it is a very targeted audience and everyone who reads this is a parent.

Gavin says:

Thanks for your ongoing readership of my newsletter remind your friends that they can subscribe free at www.gaviningham.net but don't tell your enemies!

The situation that you are facing is very common and not distinct to your marketplace I'd like to tell you a little story

Once upon a time, in a far off land there lived a happy salesperson that had products and services that were new and fresh. He had no competition and he could easily stay ahead of the marketplace. The clients loved his visits because he could educate and entertain them and they were always enthralled by his amazing new solutions to their problems and challenges

Did this mythical, unicorn of a salesperson ever exist? I doubt it! I agree that the marketplace is maybe quicker and faster than it ever was but sales is all about competition. If you have a good idea, someone will nick it! If you had some time in that mythical, fantasy land of being the only magazine in the marketplace then great but it was never going to last The aim of the game now is to help your clients to understand that you are bigger, better and more relevant for their needs than your competitors.

Here are some tips

1. Stop trying to convince them and start "knowing" that you're the best.

Sit down and think about all of the services that you have and offer that are better than those of your competitors. Clients don't like desperate salespeople. You need to "act as if" you are the only company worth dealing with in the marketplace. Remember perception is projection.

2. Remember that your clients probably don't really think that you are all the same.

But they know by telling you this they put you on the back foot. Most clients think that they have the upper hand and that we are all desperate to do business with them at any cost. Don't be so eager, take your time and plan your responses to start to redress this balance.

3. Plan and learn objection handles for common objections.

Preparation is key to sales. The only way you will get better is by thinking through situations and asking yourself the question, "How can I deal with that better next time?"

With your specific objection

"We already advertise in ABC magazine and it is distributed in the same way as yours."

What about something like

"That's fine I'm not asking you to change now, merely have a look at our services to see how they might complement your existing services."

"That's fine, business is built on relationships. At this stage, all I want to do is find out a little more about you and your business and see how we might be able to benefit you in the future."

Or even

"That's great. I'm pleased you realise the importance to your business of advertising in this medium however our distribution is not the same as theirs. I'm not asking you to change now, merely have a look at our services and see how they might complement your business objectives in the future. Tell me, how often do you advertise with?"

Remember the objective is to get them talking, find out why they are using the service, discover their objectives, understand how successfully they are meeting those objectives and then offer something better and more relevant to them.

For more on objection handling have a look at my book Objections! Objections! Objections! available on www.amazon.co.uk ISBN 1-905225-05-9.

4. Perception is everything.

Even if your services are exactly the same as your clients (or indeed are not as good!) it is whether the client thinks they are or aren't that matters. This means that you can ALWAYS create the perception that your services are more relevant to them.

On your second point, you are right in your strategy. There is no-one more destined for failure than a one-trick-salesman. You need to be approaching both new customers to the service and customers of your clients. As you have rightly pointed out, these two groups of customers will often require different sales strategies.

For the potential clients who don't advertise at present make sure that you keep the pressure off to start with. They will more than likely have been "sold" to before so when they object that they "have looked before and it's not for them" objection handle with a gentle reframe

"That's fine. I'm not asking you to buy now merely have a look at how our services might complement your existing advertising strategies. Tell me, how do you currently?"

Then get interested in their current situation, how they advertise, what their objectives are and how you might be able to help them now or in the future.

Let's face it until you ask and listen you're not going to know whether you can help them or not.

Best of luck and remember to sell with passion.

For the last 10 years, sales motivational speaker and author, Gavin Ingham has been helping sales people to explode their sales performance by turning self-doubt, fear and lack of motivation into self-belief, confidence and action. With his inspirational approach to sales performance and motivation Gavin combines commercial experience, personal excellence and communications technologies in delivering personal and business sales success.

Visit http://www.gaviningham.net now to join Gavin Ingham's free newsletter Sales Success ~ tips, tricks & techniques that will help you to outsell, out-manoeuvre and outclass your competition! Refer us to your friends & colleagues but never to your competition!

Visit Gavin's sales blog at http://www.sales-rants.com Gavin strikes out at sales wimps the world over and tells you how you can win more sales right now. Don't visit this site if you're easily offended or you want to be cuddled!

Visit only if you are a sales winner and you want to increase your sales. Gavin tells it like it is, no holds barred. It's not for everyone!

Knowing Your Customers Closing The Sale

2009-01-08T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Vishal P. Rao

Just because your business is based in your home that doesn't mean you can afford to ignore the most important element of your success: sales. The bottom line is that your sales ability will make or break your business's future. Chances are, however, that unless you have a background in sales, you lack the helpful training which will give you a competitive advantage.

The key to closing the sale quicker and easier than you ever imagined is to understand your customers. Below you will find some advice that will help you get to know them a little better.

Who They Are

Not all that long ago, customers were all pretty much the same. Most were males over thirty with steady jobs and families to support. Generally, most salespeople fell into a similar demographic. For that reason, buyers felt comfortable with sellers and typically trusted their guidance wholeheartedly.

Things have definitely changed dramatically in the last several decades. Even if you ignore the role of technology in sales, there are still enough changes from that old sales model described above to require a significant shift in attitude.

For one, men are no longer the only ones doing the buying. As you probably already know, women are out there spending their hard earned money and making important decisions about their family's budgets. Unfortunately, many of these women still feel treated as inferior or "stupid" by salespeople.

Another issue that has changed is the age of buyers. Today, many young people have enough disposable income to purchase nearly anything their hearts' desire, especially if they don't have the added responsibilities of excessive debt and dependents.

However, younger buyers also feel that they are not taken seriously by sellers. You can gain an advantage with these buyers by catering to their specific needs and by treating them with respect. It's not hard to do, but it will definitely make a difference.

If you do most of your business over the Internet, you might even want to stress that it provides a more equal playing ground for buyers of all genders and ages.

One last critical point is that buyers, regardless of their age or gender, are more informed and more knowledgeable about the products they buy and most simply won't take your word for the benefits of your product.

To make the sale, you'll need to show instead of just telling why your product is a worthy investment. Use statistics and testimonials to support your claims. Allow users to have free trials or demonstrations before they make up their minds. When they are convinced that you are being honest with them, that's when they will trust you with their money.

What They Want

Each customer is an individual who will react to the sales situation in different ways, but essentially all of them will fall into one of four categories: decisive, inquisitive, rational, and expressive. Knowing each customer's behavior style will let you know how to effectively meet their needs and finalize their transaction.

Decisive customers are typically more forceful and assertive. They know exactly what they want and don't want to waste time getting it. If you appear knowledgeable and professional and stay focused on meeting their needs, you will win their business.

Inquisitive customers are full of questions and want just the facts. They are incredibly formal and come off as distant which may discourage some salespeople. You can win their good favor by being honest about the pros and cons of your product. Also, never pressure them into making a decision. If you wait patiently, your efforts will be rewarded.

Rational customers are the easiest to work with. They ask questions, avoid conflict, and seem relaxed. They are friendly but no overly so, but don't try to put one over on them or they'll spot it right away. To succeed, stress guarantees, encourage them to get a second opinion, and present everything logically.

Finally, expressive customers are the ones you'll always remember. They are full of enthusiasm, very animated, and always upbeat. Unfortunately, they are not concerned with time and will delay making a decision for as long as possible. To win them, focus on telling your own stories about the product instead of just the facts. You'll also need to keep encouraging them to make a decision or they may never reach one.

If you don't have much interpersonal interaction with your customers, you still need to understand these four behavior types. For one, your sales writing will need to captivate all of them in order to turn them into customers. If you leave out a mention of a money back guarantee, for example, you may have a hard time convincing those rational buyers to spend their cash.

The bottom line is that all customers, regardless of their demographics or behavior style, want two things: quality and quantity. If you can convince them that you offer both, then you have closed the sale.

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Vishal P. Rao is the owner of Work at Home Forum, an online community of people who work from home.
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The Gatekeeper Is Your Key To Sales Success

2009-01-07T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Greg Beverly

I hear it every day"I can't seem to get past the gatekeeper. If I could just get through to the decision maker, I know I could make the sale." It's a common issue with sales professionals, but I will contend that much of it is self- inflicted. Too many sales people treat the gatekeeper as an adversary, one who must be conquered if indeed we are to get through to that all-important decision-maker.

Let's get one thing straight immediately. The gatekeeper is only performing his job just as you are performing yours. Why does there need to be a battlea winner and a loser? Why not create a situation where everyone wins?

Begin by smiling, and showing that you sincerely appreciate their position and their job. Consider yourself in their position. Respect them as people and as professionals. You will stand out from others who treat them as the enemy whose only purpose is to prevent them from getting through to see the decision maker.

Ask for their help. Our natural tendency as human beings is to help when asked. This also shows that you respect him and that you realize that he has something to offer you.

Find out his name and use it! This is one of the most overlooked and simple ways to reach anyone.

Ask them if there is anything you can do for THEM! This is one that will put you ahead of 99.9% of the people who walk through the door or call them on the phone.

Above all, be sincere. It will show and it will earn you respect and a trip in to see the one who makes the purchase decisions.

If you approach the situation knowing that you and your product are relevant and worthy of the decision-maker's time and when you do get through, every one will be a winner. You, because you will now get through. The decision-maker, because she will now have the opportunity to consider a product or service that will benefit her company. The gatekeeper, because his boss will recognize his discretion in letting only those with beneficial products and services through to her.

Greg Beverly helps sales professionals make more money...and work less. He is a sales coach dedicated to helping create abundance for all who seek it. Find out the secrets to becoming a sales champion and living the life of your dreams by visiting http://www.salessuccess.yougethelp.com

Computer Consulting Finding Prospects Among Your Leads

2009-01-06T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Joshua Feinberg

How do you narrow down your leads and find your prospects? In this article, you'll learn some criteria that will help you narrow down your computer consulting leads and take them to the next step.

One is finding your industry focus. You must laser beam your target market. You need to stand out tremendously from the crowd because everyone other computer consulting professional is chasing after the same hardware services, LAN, and the exact same advertising.

But there are two other really big ways that you can narrow down your leads and improve your batting average. One is size.

Computer Consulting: Three Different Size Audiences to Pursue:

One is the micro small business where there's just a handful of PCs. It has more to do with the mindset of the business owner than the absolute number of PCs, but it's a very small number of employees, a very small number of PCs, and at that size, the micro small business doesn't usually look for extensive high-level IT computer consulting services. The next step up is really the sweet spot where we see most computer consulting professionals still continuing to do very well even in this challenging environment, and that's the 10- to 50-PC space. A number of different studies have confirmed that the two to one ratio holds across different industries, so if you're maxing out around a 50-seat LAN, a lot of times that equates to anywhere from a 90- to 100-employee company. At that size, once you get that many PCs, IT is usually a lot more strategically important to the company. Down time becomes much more expensive. You can do simple calculations like taking their annual revenue and dividing by 250 business days a year and eight hours a day and give them real simple ideas of a company doing $4 million a year in annual revenue with 2,000 business hours a year is losing on average $2,000 an hour for down time. A computer consulting professional can save them money in the long run.

When you start to get to 50 PCs or 100 PCs or more, you start to enter what we consider the borderline of the top of small business and the bottom of medium-sized business. What can often happen at that size is the IT services bills from your company start to approach what could become a full-time salary of a real IT manager. They're no longer going to need to outsource the generalist roles--instead they'll hire their own, on-site person.

The Bottom Line About Computer Consulting

To set yourself apart from the crowd, you need to further define your ideal client in order to find the prospects among your leads.

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Joshua Feinberg, co-founder of Computer Consulting 101, helps computer consulting businesses get more steady, high-paying clients. Learn how you can too. Sign-up now for your free access to these field-tested, proven business strategies on the Computer Consulting 101 Blog.

The Growing Need For Auto Sales Training Outside Of The Dealership

2009-01-04T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Patricia Jones

Auto sales training is definitely a constant need in any successful auto dealership, and one that you will find many dealerships not implementing properly because of lack of time. In today's day and age, having a sharp and well trained staff is no longer a luxury; it's an absolute necessity.

Car dealerships today are faced with the fact that the traditional auto sales training programs are "not cutting it." These courses that they have been putting their staff through are not keeping pace with the technological advancements that are coming to the market on a daily basis. Think about it like this: One "X" brand dealership has a well trained staff; one that has a well organized auto sales training program which every single staff member completes. They train their staff the "steps-to-the-sale" and how to properly deal with prospects, customers and some advanced skills in relationship building.

Conversely, a competitor on the other side of the city realizes that they need to stay up with the advancements in technology that seem to take place daily. They have integrated their auto sales training program with a few external trainers, so now this staff is being trained in some amazing new ways. They all individually have their own web sitesa blogand a PDA.

They are taught how to develop a relationship with their prospects and customers in a way that the dealership ultimately benefits from 10 fold. The sales staff, through the auto sales training program, is now able to engage and utilize technology; while the dealership management has leveraged the relationships of these staff members to ultimately grow the bottom line dramatically.

Which of these two dealerships would you want to be?

I think that the choice is clear, as well as imperative. You see, it is just impossible to be great, or even good, at multiple thingsas there is just not enough time in a day. Dealers and the management teams are busy buying cars, selling cars and training their staff on how to buy and sell cars. Technology is flying by us at an incredible paceand it is proven to be true; that the dealers that have totally engaged technology are the ones that have been able to leverage their time and resources in ways only once imagined.

One really quick example I would like to give regarding leverage is this: the Credit Union sale. Dealers go to Credit Unions all the time to "joint venture" a sale to the clients of the respective Credit Union. Why do they do this? The answer is quite simple. Credit Unions have fantastic relationships with their members, and by leveraging this relationship, dealers are now able to communicate and do business with an entirely new group of individuals that they may not have previously had access to. This is the power of leverage.

Now apply this to a well trained sales staff; a staff that has engaged technology to the fullest and is using this technology to develop their relationships with their prospects and customers.

Now, think about this, while your sales staff is developing better relationships with their prospects and customersblogs, websites, pod casts, email marketingthe dealership is the ultimate benefactor. Conversely, if the dealership itself is the one that is attempting to do the direct marketing to these potential customers, it is merely seen as MARKETING.

I hope you all see the benefit of not only empowering your sales staff with a more efficient auto sales training program, but that you see how it is ultimately in the best interests of the dealership.

Visit http://www.mindsetforsales.com to learn how you can acquire the technology to stay ahead in this game!

Financial Service Professionals Americas Best Kept Secret

2009-01-02T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Jay Stubbs

I often wonder why some professionals complain about not having enough people to call on. Then I hear moans and groans of not making enough money, and that business is slow. Now I'm not doubting that these people are making calls and asking for referrals, any good agent or investment rep knows that is what it takes. I am amazed, however, at the lack of simple marketing and advertising conducted by people running what they call a business. An advisor asked me once how he could get more prospects. After telling me what he was doing, I encouraged him to keep it up, but to quit being cheap. There was no website or proactive mailing campaign. I asked if any sort of appreciation event had taken place, and the answer was no. He wasn't even listed in the Yellow Pages and had never placed an ad in the newspaper or local magazine. And I know that this professional gives great service and knows his stuff, but he is keeping it a secret from the rest of the world by not promoting himself or his business.

Promoting yourself and your business is not selfish, it's vital to your livelihood. What's selfish is taking all of your revenue as personal income. Think of other companies that rely upon sales of commodities. They spend a great deal of money putting their name in the forefront of people's minds. It is a percentage of gross revenue, and usually works out to about 10%. Now I know you're in no position to run TV ads and post billboards. In fact, what you need to do is even easier and less expensive. Simply advertise to those people that already know who you are. If you gross $100,000 a year, spend around $500 to $800 per month. Make $50,000 per year? Then $250 to $400 per month should be adequate. If you do it smart and do it right, your advertising will pay off.

Now what will that monthly budget get you? Plenty. You can start a newsletter campaign for 200 clients that will run you about $1,200 per year. It is sent every other month and is provided by Market Connections. Visit www.salesjive.com for more information.

You could also host a Client Appreciation dinner or other event, asking them to bring two guests (prospects). Make it fun. Make it memorable. Do it Right. It will cost you around $20-$25 per person.

You now have enough left over for a little newspaper advertising or a Yellow Page ad. Run something eye catching. Prompt for a Call to Action. Make sure your Business Name, Your Name, Website and Phone Number are in the ad.

No website? Did you know you can set one up for under $100 per year? Not having an internet presence today is like not having a fax machine in 1995. If you want the 19 to 38 age group to know about you, then you better get a website because that's how most of them will research your business. Visit www.naifa-mobile.org for an inexpensive site I set up for my local NAIFA chapter.

Advisors today are good at helping people think through financial concepts and put plans into motion for a secure future. They ask good questions and listen well. They are attentive to the needs of their clients. This is GREAT service, so why wouldn't one want to promote it? The bottom line: Don't take all your Revenue as Personal Income. I am sure you are a good advisor, you just have spend a little money to let people know it.

About Jay Stubbs

Jay Stubbs is an experienced Financial Services Sales Director and Qualifying Member of the Milion Dollar Round Table.

Jay offers FREE Consulting and Speaking for Financial Service Professionals

For more information, sales ideas, advice and free consumer articles, visit Jay's website.

http://www.salesjive.com

Four Hypnotic Sales Techniques

2009-01-01T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Paul Archer

What do we mean "Under the Radar"?

Getting under the radar is a way of sneaking in through the back door without anyone noticing. The Stealth Fighter plane is famous for evading the enemy's radar systems so it can drop its bombs with precision accuracy. Harry Potter is legendary for his invisible cloak which allows him to sneak anywhere un-noticed.

Now if you, like me, believe wholeheartedly in ethical selling. In other words only selling something to someone who genuinely needs it and can afford it. Without a hesitation of doubtthen you need some selling under the radar tips because you can use them with the belief that you're legitimately helping the customer along the path of the sale.

Now that's really important to get off my chest because it's true to say that I honestly believe that if you have the slightest doubt whether to proceed with the sale, then you shouldn't. Find a customer who truly needs your product or service.

Just like a rolling stonesomeone needs to give it a little push first and then it travels a path. Customers sometimes need a little push along the right path and these tips will help you do just that.

Lets start with "under the radar" tip number 1, truisms.

Truisms

A truism is a statement or sentence that is, without doubt, true and most people will find themselves agreeing to it. They are a great calming skill and all you're doing here is confirming to the customer what is true in their minds and allowing them to go into a state of comfort where there are no hidden surprises.

Simply say things that are true for the customer, Keep them global at first such as

"Its a beautiful day today isn't it?"
"Parking's a bit tricky in town at this time?"

Then later on you could use some truisms you've found out about the customer such as:

"Your family is a real priority to you aren't they?"
"From the information on the form you obviously keep yourselves fit and healthy"
"Getting a service that will save you time is important to you, don't you think?"

As the customer relaxes and sees that your product is right for them...introduce some specific truisms such as:

"So you agree your budget for the package is just under £600 per month?" "You'd like to complete the forms now?"

Notice that I've tagged some of the questions at the end with what we call a 'yes tag'.

Yes Tags

These are little words at the end of the statements to get a positive "yes" from the customer. Useful to gain a commitment to move the sale along. Yes tags come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and I just know you've used them before without knowing what they were called...haven't you?

Examples of yes tags...

Haven't you
Aren't you
Don't you
Isn't it?
Won't you.

Just put one at the end of a truism, statement and your customer will want to nod their head in agreement.

But I'm sure you'll agree, won't you, that overuse is dangerous Chocolate is lovely in small doses - too much and you can become very queasy indeed...
...don't you think?

Embedded Suggestions

This one does sound rather rude, doesn't it? And this is the under the radar tip that is closely related to hypnotic selling.

You see, so much in our lives is automated. Our bodies and minds are on auto pilot constantly as we try to make sense of the signals we're being bombarded with continuously. We do this because if we had to consciously focus on absolutely everything, we'd probably explode. Our conscious mind can only deal with between 5 and 9 senses at any given time, much less if you're a man!

So everything else is dealt with admirably by our sub-conscious or behind the scenes brain processing. This is why brands are so powerful. We see Robinsons on the juice bottle and automatically buy it. We're in the pub and see Stella on show and order a pint without giving it anymore thought, well I do anyway.

This rule of life helps us to understand why all these under the radar tips work but specifically embedded commands.

These are words or short phrases that we slip in with our normal conversation that are ignored but subliminally processed by our customers to have an effect. Here's some examples:

"I, like many other people, enjoy driving"
"Buy now, Mr Smith, you're wondering what benefits this product gives you"
"You, like me, enjoy getting value for your money"
"I'm hoping you'll want to place an order right now, but before you do"
"Buy the way, let's have a quick summary of the benefits of this plan."

So there are 5 examples for you of embedded suggestions. You'll notice, like many other people reading this article, that I mis-spelt buy. It should be by. But the reason I did this was to show you that some words have more than one meaning and the brain has to process all the various meanings before it arrives at the right one. So the customer is thinking about buying without knowing it.

Also I really want the customer to like me, so I embedded the phrase in and at the same time drove home the fact that I like lots of people. The other phrases are just suggestions that I openly stated. These all slip under the radar or into the sub conscious and start working for you.

Negation

These are similar to the previous tip but slightly different so they need a separate category. If I said to my 8 year old son, Euandon't worry about the carol concert this afternoon, what do you think he'll think? That's right he will worry because I've suggested he shouldn't but just by suggesting this I've reminded him of his fears.

Likewise if I said to you now please don't ever consider eating an apple. You'll consider eating an apple. You can't stop yourself because your brain has processed the positive before obeying the don't command. Use this in sales to make suggestions that you don't want to be accused of later. For example:

"Don't think for a moment that you need to decide to go ahead today" "I'll not be asking for the order today"

Good aren't they? You don't have to get excited about all of this right now, do you?

Paul is an international speaker, trainer, author and coach based in the UK. He works with companies across the globe to help them increase their sales results. He specialises in rapport selling and rapport sales coaching and can ignite his audiences large or small. Get your free Sales Excellence Ebook Chapter and MP3 download at http://www.rapportselling.com

Sales Professionals Characteristics That Make Or Break

2008-12-31T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Steve Singleton

What companies look for when recruiting a new sales representative are the characteristics that give you a successful sales career. If you have been hired to be part of a sales team, it's probably because your manager can perceive that you have these attributes, at least to some degree. Your manager's main challenge to help you develop them to their full potential. Let's examine each of them in more detail.

Professionalism
Because of the high-ticket products and services we sell, our clients expect and deserve to work with men and women who are professional, in regard to their demeanor, their wealth of relevant knowledge, and their ability to manage complex projects efficiently and effectively. Professionalism also assumes well-honed organizational skills that make all contacts with the client a satisfying experience rather than an annoyance. What else distinguishes a professional from an amateur?
Commitment
If you are selling a product, your client expects you to be committed to delivering the highest value possible, as defined by their requirements. If you are selling a service, your client expects you to be as interested, even as passionate, about getting their job completed on time and on budget as they are themselves. Commitment to your company is also essential to your success, as again and again your current and potential clients ask you, "Why should I choose your firm over one of your competitors?" You must focus on providing a succinct but persuasive answer that question. Finally, you have to be committed to your own success--committed enough to be highly disciplined in your investment of time, energy, training, and other resources to your own ongoing development. The committed keep growing.
Charisma
You may believe that personal magnetism is a gift you may or may not be born with, not a skill you can develop. Charisma, however, is a competence that all sales professionals need, and most are able to learn. It is that seamless combination of vision, empathy, self-confidence, enthusiasm, optimism, and focus that often makes the different between closing a sale and closing a doorright in your own face. It involves the consistent ability to rapport instantly and maintain it subconsciously so that you and your client are never adversarial, but on the same side. Yet if your charisma comes across as contrived or artificial, it will do more harm than good.
Work ethic
Anyone who believes that success in sales is mainly good luck should remember the famous words of golfing great Lee Trevino, "It's amazing! The more I practice, the luckier I get." Developing and maintaining a good work ethic means that you develop efficient and effective work habits and then stick with them day in and day out. This includes a regular schedule, standard operating procedures for the repetitive tasks you must perform, a simple but effective record-keeping system, and the self-discipline to keep going no matter what. You recognize that your success is not dependent just on the number of hours you work, but on how much of that time you channel toward your objectives.
Desire
First, ask yourself, "What do I really want in my sales career?" Once you have established a definite, satisfying, and enthusiasm-inducing answer, keep that goal at the forefront of your thinking all the time. Second, you must ask, "What do I really want for my client?" This second goal should remain your priority in your relationship with the client. That's what is known as "Customer Focus": meeting or exceeding the client's needs and expectations the first time and every time. The answers to these two questions should never be in conflict, but complementary. Desire is seldom a personality trait, so much as it is a developed skill. You think what you focus on, and you become what you think.
Attitude
As Zig Ziglar says, "It's your attitude, much more than your aptitude, that determines your altitude." Are you an optimist or a pessimist? Are you enthusiastic or lethargic. Do you look at the problems or the possibilities? Once more, contrary to those who say to themselves and to anyone else who will listen, "That's just the way I am," and "I can never seem to overcome this personality flaw I have," the right attitude is something we can develop, improve, and fine tune. Your mind will believe whatever you tell it about yourself. Why not choose to program it for success?
Creativity
If you are wondering what distinguishes you from one of your competitors, consider this: to the client your two companies may be indistinguishable, you may both be selling a superior product or service, and each of you may be delivering your presentation and maintaining contact in a truly professional manner. Your creativity might well become the sole differentiator that makes you stand out from the dozen cookie-cutter sales representatives your client has encountered. It may be a remarkable turn of phrase, a humorous leave behind, or an unforgettable story. What ever it is, creativity can easily become a factor between gaining an order and losing one. Creativity can be learned, developed, and enhanced.
Resilience
Anyone who has been in sales for very long has felt the pain of losing a close one. You may have invested many hours, days, or even weeks developing a relationship, gaining an opportunity to make a proposal, and earning your clients loyalty. Then the floor drops out, and you find the order has gone to a competitor or has been postponed indefinitely. Your ability on such occasions to bounce back not only to where you were before, but having gained from the experience, is one of the essential keys to sales success. If you are able to learn something from each loss and then put it behind you, your next opportunity has a higher likelihood for winning.
Flexibility
Every sales professional knows that success in selling is not simply a matter of following a checklist of do's and don'ts. You have to learn how to be flexible. In other words, you must develop an outstanding ability to read the particular needs, preferences, and personal idiosyncrasies of your client, and then tailor your interaction, presentation, and closing tactics to custom-fit that client. Employing a "one-size-fits-all," learned-by-rote sales system is one of the quickest ways you can find to convince your client that they don't matter to you.

Integrate all of these
Of course, each one of these has a rightful claim to your attention as important in and of itself. The challenge you face is to integrate all of these into your personality as a sales professional to the extent that they are convincingly natural. Only experience--that is, recognizing and reinforcing your successful efforts while identifying and correcting your flops--can enable you to blend all of these characteristics into an outstanding sales persona that nevertheless is really you.

* * *

Steve Singleton has written and edited several books and numerous articles. He has been an editor, reporter, and public relations consultant. He has taught college-level Greek, Bible, and religious studies courses and has taught seminars in 11 states and the Caribbean.

Go to his DeeperStudy.com for Bible study resources, no matter what your level of expertise. Explore "The Shallows," plumb "The Depths," or use the well-organized "Study Links" for original sources in English translation. Check out the DeeperStudy Bookstore for great e-books, free books, and great discounts. Subscribe to his free "DeeperStudy Newsletter" or "DeeperStudy Blog."

Less Is More Quick Tips To Improve Your Sales

2008-12-30T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Martin Wales

I'll be brief. If not I'll negate my own point. Got time to read a 12-page essay on sales improvement? You want to get back to making sales and money. Let's go then.

Less time more pressure.

You prospects have less time and feel more pressure. Just like you, I'm sure. As a sales professional, you need to be sensitive to this. For your own good, have a clear, short and concise benefit statement. Don't waste a prospect's time or yours with lengthy (and boring) introductions. Observe people who go on and on at networking events when asked what they do or introducing themselves to the group. Is that you?

Less resources to get more done.

Your sales increase when you better demonstrate how much 'leverage' your product provides. Have prepared proof of substantial Return On Investment for prospects. The best ROI support is customer testimonials containing real numbers. If you don't have any, use industry data and 3rd party research, or statistics, and proactively collecting your own. Start today.

Less contact more voice mail.

If you don't improve your ability for leaving voice mail messages, then you will continue to face the frustration of getting your calls returned. Most salespeople's ability and confidence with voice mail remains poor. If you can't motivate me to even call you back, how could you possibly motivate me to buy from you? Again, be brief, concise and clear. The most glaring weakness is not letting me know the BENEFIT of calling you back. Get training on how to leave an impactful 30-second message that can't be ignored and pulls response.

Less paper and more email.

Letterhead is hard to find these days. A client of mine, IBM, wanted to send a testimonial letter about a sales seminar I gave. My contact couldn't find letterhead. However, lack of letterhead is no excuse for poor spelling and curt communication. Build relationship through constant and meaningful email contact. Make your emails well-written, focused and brief. You face obstacles, like strict network security and the poor computer skills of your recipients. Take a course on email etiquette and copy writing. Don't send an email with large or too many attachments. Sending paper 'snail-mail' is making a comeback with the current anti-spam and "too-much-email" sentiment.

Less personal presentations and more technology.

Travel and budgets have diminished. Teleconferencing and web-based presentations have grown in their use. Sadly, technology doesn't breed ability. Listen to me. Using a webinar to read a PowerPoint to me over the phone will NOT sell me. Again, build your skill set and improve your presentations or have an expert facilitator do them for you.

Less talk and more listening.

The wisdom of the ages. Cliché really but still ignored and executed poorly in sales. Prospects have little time to listen to your 'sales pitch.' Ironically, they have plenty of time to 'complain.' Perfect. Encourage this and note their problems. Let THEM sell themselves. Let your prospects talk themselves into purchasing and stop interrupting them. Give the occasional prompt and affirmative nod to support their rant. Good sales people sell products. Great sales professionals solve problems.

Less preparation and more action.

More salespeople fail while perfecting their approach instead of actually making contacts. Look. Over-preparing makes you sound robotic and impersonal anyway. It's a procrastinator's crutch and an excuse for those in fear of rejection. Get on the phone and attend networking events now. Improve on the fly. Don't worry. We're all human and generally kind.

Enough said. Time to sell.

Get complimentary help and advice at www.CustomerCatcherTips.com. Martin Wales helps you increase your sales and profits with simple, proven tools and systems that get immediate results. If you want more customers, contact him at Martin@CustomerCatcher.com.

Want To Make More Money Fish In A Bigger Pond

2008-12-29T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Kimberly Stevens

Setting prices is a dilemma most service business owners encounter at one time or another. This week, it was Susan's turn. "When I first started my business, I felt uncomfortable charging for my services. Since I was doing it to make a living, I finally just picked a price I thought wouldn't scare too many people away. Now, based on my available work hours, I can't really take on more clients but at the rate I'm charging them, I'm not going to make enough money to keep the business alive. How do I raise my prices without losing my clients?" she wanted to know.

For whatever reason, it is uncomfortable for many of us to look a person in the face and state our hourly rate or the cost of a project they want us to complete for them. This is usually rooted in our fear of rejection. We think, 'What if the prospect gasps and falls out of his chair convulsing on the floor?' or 'What if he snorts with disdain or launches into uncontrollable laughter?' At the beginning, we really need the work and generally decide we'd rather start getting some clients to build our reputation and skills, thinking we'll charge a rate we know they'll accept. Besides, we can always raise our prices later. Well, now is "later", so it's time to bite the bullet.

First, understand you aren't asking for their firstborn child -- you are asking for money in exchange for the service you are offering. Shakti Gawain, author of "Creating True Prosperity", introduced me to the concept of thinking about money as just another form of energy. Just as you put energy into the service you provide, the client puts energy into their field of interest in order to make money to pay you for your service.

On the business-to-business side of things, the client's business has clearly made the decision to outsource the service they are discussing with you. They have decided to use their internal staff's energy to focus on their core business while outsourcing those things they don't have the skills or time to do. The same is true of individuals - they could paint their house, but they're calling you. Clearly, they don't want to do it and know it's going to cost money to get someone else to do it Either way, they are going to hire someone to do it, so why not you?

That said, it's time to raise your prices. You've got two sets of people to deal with here -- your current clients and your future clients. Future clients are easy - simply start quoting the higher hourly rate or basing your flat rate proposals on the new hourly rate with no mention of a recent price increase. Your fear that you will lose out on some bids WILL come true. You've been fishing in the pond that attracts the lower-end clients, so you will probably have to start marketing to and networking with prospects on the next higher rung. But, so what? It's still your choice you can stick with the low-end guys and struggle to make your business profitable or you can start charging a respectable rate for the skills and professionalism you bring to the table to create a prosperous business. It's up to you.

Now, the current clients are the ones you are likely most afraid of. What will they say? Will they never want to work with you again? The best time to raise prices is at the beginning of the year, either calendar or fiscal, or at the beginning of a new contract with an existing client. Never try to negotiate a price increase in the middle of a project. If a project is taking significantly more hours than you quoted for a reason out of your control or it's directly within the client's control, you can consider discussing it with them. However, if you want to be sure to maintain positive client relationships, you may choose to learn your lesson from this one and protect yourself with a contract that outlines contingencies such as that going forward. But, in most cases, never try to increase your hourly rate on a client in the middle of a project. This sends a message that will likely get you the response you most fear - that you are a money-hungry so-and-so who only cares about him or her self.

Instead, wait until a natural beginning, ending, or transition period to communicate your price increase. One way to do it is to send your client a beginning of the year letter that expresses your appreciation of their business in the prior year, outlines any policy changes you've made for the coming year, communicates your price increase, and states your anticipated pleasure of working with them in the coming year. If you are raising prices at the end of one project and are about to bid on another project with the same client, during your discussions tell them you have raised your hourly or project rate and hope they still find it to be competitive and will continue to work with you since you've really enjoyed collaborating with them.

Notice you did not hear me guarantee you will keep every single one of your current clients. Like you, your clients make purchasing decisions based on a variety of factors, each person weighing each of the factors differently. If you've been the lowest price available in your field, you've no doubt attracted clients who make decisions based mainly on price. Increasing your price so you are no longer "the low-price guy", may send them packing. So be it. Once you raise your prices to a respectable rate you can profit from, that's competitive and fair, you will begin to attract clients who will pay it. It's all about positioning. You can position your company as the low-price guy, the top-of-the-line guy, or the value guy (middle of the road price with a quality service).

The lesson here ... it's your business and your revenues are what you make them.

About The Author

kim@askthebizcoach.com

Sales Training Success Tip Selling Is Like Dating

2008-12-28T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Ike Krieger

I urge my clients to be authentic, be a good listener, ask powerful open-ended questions, be truly interested, and find out what's important to the other person.

This also sounds like a pretty good system for effective dating.

After all, if you dominate the dating conversation, talk only about yourself, or focus on why it's a good idea for the other person to respond to your "offer", your results will be, at best, hit and miss.

Jenny, my wife of 33 years, tells me that she would hate to be in the "dating pool" again. She's a great communicator, but would be less than overjoyed at the possibility of facing rejection. Plus... she fears that saying the wrong thing might maker her come off looking stupid. (This, for her, is impossible.)

Many in the dating pool share these concerns.

Selling is a lot like dating. Each is dramatically important to our survival. One brings us the opportunity for approval and love; the other brings us the opportunity for approval and money.

The fear, and it is fear, that we won't "cut the mustard", or live up to the expectations of the prospect, is an emotion that's present in both activities.

What are we afraid of?

We're afraid that despite our best efforts, our "prospect" will reject us or our offer. Even worse, they might tell us, "Don't call me. I'll call you."

Jenny tells me that from their early teens women are taught a system for dating.

They have been trained to "listen to a guy" in order to "catch" him. If you don't believe me, check some old issues of Seventeen or Teen. It's a time-honored tradition, rightly or wrongly.

Most salespeople and most daters attempt to "close the deal" without using a well defined communications system.

Being authentic and speaking from the heart in your dating or sales communications doesn't mean that it's in your best interest to "wing it."

Whether it's for selling or dating, I suggest that you use a system to help you build up your skill muscle for authentic and effective communication.

For years, my clients have been telling me that my selling system has made a big difference in their personal lives as well. This is gratifying, but not surprising.

Effective communication is effective communication, no matter what it's designed for.

When I developed my communications system I had a goal.

Over the years my clients have been telling me that they wanted to learn a way to say the right thing, at the right time all the time. Being able to do that would seem to be a sure way to attract more clients, more referrals, more sales, and more dates.

So, my system is designed to produce those results 100% of the time and it doesn't.

Let me explain why that's okay.

My favorite metaphors relate to the world of sports. In most competitive sports the participants follow a game plan that focuses on winning 100% of the time.

For instance, each play in a football playbook is based on a system designed to score a touchdown every time. We know that doesn't happen, but that's the focus. The team has a system and they follow it.

Here's the tip Adopt a focus and a communications system for your business that you're comfortable with and follow it.

What should you look for in a communications system?

You want a system that's designed to help you make more quality contacts and then turn those contacts in to contracts, or clients, 100% of the time, and we know that's doesn't happen.

In light of that reality you want a system that will help you quickly uncover a "no" that's going to happen anyway. You want a system that will allow you to watch an increase in the number of prospects who say "yes."

You want a system that will help you produce results more easily and more often, and at the same time, help you experience a decrease in "sales related" stress.

How you market and sell yourself determines how effectively you market and sell your product or expertise. It's all about the effective and authentic use of language.

No one taught us how to say the "right thing" or ask the right questions in sales, or in dating. We certainly weren't taught in our schools.

It's time for just such a system and I'm proud to say it's available right now.

Ike Krieger is a business mentor, author and speaker. Ike has develped a system that will help you get more clients, more referrals and more sales, and do it with dignity. His "Yes Formula"® Success System will help you... Talk Less and Sell More. Learn all about this system and subscribe to Ike's newsletter at http://www.BusinessSuccessBuilder.com

Crossselling Training

2008-12-27T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Terence Traut

Most companies train their customer service representatives to ask questions to solve problems. Cross-selling is extending those existing skills since selling is really nothing more than good problem-solving. At the same time, cross-selling skills can be unique and can be as foreign to customer service reps as another language.

In order to effectively cross-sell through the service channel, start with an assessment of current abilities and comparing them to cross-selling competencies

An employee skilled at cross-selling:

Views cross-selling as an extension of customer service and a way to solve customer problems.

While addressing the reason for the customer call, listens and identifies clues to additional customer needs.

Successfully addresses the customer's original reason for the call before discussing additional products or services.

Uses checkbacks to ensure that issues have been addressed, messages understood, and actions agreed to appropriately throughout the call.

Throughout the call, listens for clues that may identify the caller's predisposition for cross-selling (both in terms of product/service need AND in terms of receptivity).

Successfully transitions to cross-selling by asking questions to investigate and/or clarify additional customer needs identified during the call.

Matches appropriate products/services to meet specific customer needs.

Positions the customer benefits of these products/services in terms and tone that demonstrate helpfulness to the customer.

Ends discussion of additional products/services if the customer objects.

Recognizes buying signals.

Closes the sale by asking for confirmation by the customer.

Training must provide demonstrations of these skills in action. Charlie Gargaly, customer service master trainer at Entelechy is adamant that the training show the skills being applied by THESE reps in THEIR environment: "Generic training doesn't work here. Customer service reps need to see 'one of their own' successfully demonstrating the skills." Gargaly recommends using video to capture vignettes of real reps demonstrating the specific skills; use the videos in training to demonstrate and discuss the skills.

However, for training to be successful, two obstacles MUST first be addressed. We must address the predisposition some employees may have against sales. And we must ensure that the product information includes clear and specific benefits. Let's look at these two obstacles.

Predisposition Against Sales

"I'd rather quit than sell." "I was hired to help people, not manipulate them."

The feelings of many customer service reps towards sales are often more violent than those expressed by customers! Clearly, introducing cross-selling training to such an audience would fail quickly and unequivocally. Therefore, a critical initial step is to help customer service reps see cross-selling for what it is (or what it SHOULD be): an extension of providing the best and most complete service to the customer.

Although presenting some of the research findings mentioned earlier might lower the defenses of many customer service reps, metamorphosis happens at two levels. The first is recognition that they themselves have happily purchased items that others suggested; in other words, the customer service reps themselves have benefited from a relevant and timely recommendation made by someone else. The second is the realization that THEY as customer service reps are sometimes the ONLY people who are in a position to provide this helpful information to customers.

It is important for customer service reps to see that positioning products and services that will benefit the customer IS customer service! Of course, if the customer is satisfied and does not need anything else, the rep should close the call without even mentioning any other products or services. However, if the customer service rep could provide the customer better service by matching a product or service to an expressed need, then missing that opportunity is incomplete customer service.

A significant amount of Entelechy's initial customer service training focuses on helping customer service reps see themselves as the customer's advocate, someone who has insights and information that will help that particular customer. Through small and large-group discussion, we extend that "customer advocacy" to include an obligation to position relevant and beneficial products and services thereby gradually reducing and eliminating the biases that customer service reps have against sales.

Product Knowledge

Product knowledge is perhaps the most misunderstood element in the cross-selling equation. Companies spend time on product features and functions, yet we all know that customers don't really care much about those things. They care about benefits. And actually, they really only care about benefits to THEM personally.

For cross-selling efforts to work, customer service reps need training and support (in the form of job aids) that provide easy-to-access product information. Most importantly, the customer benefits of these products need to be specified at the granular level. If a product is going to save time, it needs to be clear WHO is going to save HOW much time. For example, a personal video recorder (PVR) such as TiVo® allows someone who hates commercials (the WHO) to skip 12 minutes of commercials every hour (the BENEFIT).

Customer service reps need to be receptive to potential buyers of a product so when they are listening to the customer on the call, they can pick up specific clues that would lead to specific products. If, during a call, the caller complains that "there seems to be getting more and more commercials on TV" the customer service rep can position TiVo as a product that the customer may find useful.

Another caller may talk about how they're missing an important part of the game because the video signal is out. After addressing the problem, the customer service rep may position TiVo as a tool to ensure that the customer can replay parts of the game that he missed.

The product training must focus on targeted potential buyers and the specific benefits they would get from the product or service. General marketing messages (i.e., save time, lower costs) and product functions and features do NOT make for effective product training.

Product training without teaching skills or teaching skills independent of product knowledge is ineffective. Training that combines product and skills training is the solution.

Conclusions

Cross-selling is rapidly becoming the primary way of increasing revenue for many customers. Done effectively, cross-selling can also increase customer satisfaction and retention. Done ineffectively and you risk losing your only source of revenue. Cross-selling training needs to combine both product information AND skills practice. If your customer service reps ask questions and position products in the mode of solving customer problems, they'll make the customer feel taken care of and appreciated. When done right, cross-selling will do more than sell products; it can increase customer satisfaction and retention.

Download your free copy of Effectively Using Cross-Selling and Up-Selling to Increase Revenue AND Customer Service at http://unlockit.com/TS-HPCS.htm and increase the effectiveness of your cross selling efforts.

Terence R. Traut is the president of Entelechy, Inc., a company that helps organizations unlock the potential of their people through customized training programs in the areas of sales, management, customer service, and training. Terence can be reached at 603-424-1237 or ttraut@unlockit.com.

Maximize Sales And Minimize Returns With Learning Styles

2008-12-26T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Niall Roche

In the day-to-day operation of an online business we can sometimes lose sight of what we want to achieve as opposed to how we actually go about achieving it. For us to achieve our goals of financial independence and time freedom we need to have customers. Most peoples understanding of customer acquistion stops at this point.

One of the key factors in getting a customer to buy (literally) into what you're selling is engagement. You must engage their minds, engage their desires, engage their dreams and their hearts. That being said the next and most obvious question is "How?"

Part of any sales process is how the potential customer learns about your product and how valuable it can be to them. People learn in a variety of ways and approaching the wrong person with the wrong delivery method = zero results. Think back to a time when you dealt with a good sales person. Do you remember their body language? Their facial expressions? The volume and tone of their voice? A good sales person understands that to keep you focused on what they're selling they also need to use visual expressions, hand gestures, positive tone and maintain eye contact. Any distraction can mean the end of the sales process.

For a customer to get the most out of your website, ebook or software you need to deliver the information to them in the most engaging possible way. Multiple forms of information delivery gives you the best possible chance of appealing to the widest audience.

So how do people learn and how can this benefit you and your business?

The three different types of learning:

Auditory - people with an auditory learning style have a strong appreciation of words and remember details easily. Emotive language and words that paint pictures and bring out the passion in your product will be most effective with this type of person. Both audio and video are very effective for auditory learners as is reading the material aloud.

Visual - presentation is critical to visual learners. Shabbily presented text, typos, bad grammar, bad graphics or anything moderately confusing to look at will cause the visual learner to lose interest almost immediately. Charts and diagrams will be remembered before reams of plain text. Watching somebody actually perform the steps involved can be very beneficial. Words can be used to paint a picture in the minds of a visual learner quite easily. If a visual learner were to read the words "pink elephant" they'd instantly picture a pink elephant in their minds. Some of you reading this have just experienced this.

Tactile/Kinesthetic - learn by doing or by by praticing what they've just been shown. You can spot a kinesthetic learner from their tendency to tap their feet or exhibit similar rapid leg movement whilst thinking or in learning mode. A kinesthetic learner is a hands-on learner so spreading practical demonstrations or exercises around your ebook or software product will really grab this type of learner. Kinesthetic or tactile learers need to be involved in the process for it to have any meaning to them.

What does this all mean? It means that online businesses are missing 66.6% of their potential market every time they produce a product that only targets one learning style. Auditory learners cannot wade through 300 pages of an ebook but would gladly listen to a 6 hour audio transcription of the same ebook. Visual learners need colourful charts, diagrams and pictures properly displayed to benefit from the experience. Kinesthetic learners need to be engaged quickly with practical exercises - the "put the ebook down and go and do this" type of activity. If not they'll grow bored and move onto something else.

Is it possible to combine all these learning styles into one single product? Of course. You don't need to develop an entirely different product for each learning style. Combining your ebook or software with some audio and video instruction modules or beginners guides would cover all the learning style bases. Variety of information delivery is the key.

In finishing ask yourself one question: What would a 66.6% increase in customer response do for your business?

About The Author

Niall Roche

http://www.affiliate-advocate.com is run by Niall Roche. The site offers reviews of affiliate marketing ebooks and software as well as advice and tips for new and existing affiliate marketers.

info@affiliate-advocate.com

The Five Most Common Mistakes Salespeople Make

2008-12-25T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Dave Kahle

Over the decades that I've been involved in sales, I've worked with tens of thousands of salespeople. Certain negative tendencies -- mistakes that salespeople make -- keep surfacing. Here are my top five. See to what degree you (or your sales force) may be guilty of them.

Mistake Number One: Over concern with strategy instead of tactics

Gather a group of salespeople together around a coffee maker and listen to the conversation. After the obligatory complaints about all types of things, the conversation inevitably drifts to questions of strategy. How do I accomplish this in that account? How do I get this account to this?

In my seminars, I often hold a "clinic" where salespeople write down any sales-related question and submit it to the group for discussion. These questions are almost always related to strategic issues. In one form or another, they ask the same question: How do I achieve this effect in this account?

While this thoughtfulness is encouraging, it reveals an erroneous mindset. The belief behind these questions is this: "If I can only determine the right sequence of actions of my part, I'll be able to sell this account, or achieve this goal."

This, unfortunately, is rarely the case. These sales people, based on this erroneous belief, are looking for a solution in the wrong place. Almost always, the answer to the question is not a more clever strategy, but better execution of the basic tactics.

It is like the foot ball team whose players don't tackle well, miss their blocks, throw erratic passes, and fumble frequently. The solution is not a more clever game plan. The solution is better execution of the basic tactics. Learn to do the basics effectively, and the strategy will generally take care of itself.

The real problem with this over concern for strategy is that it seduces the salesperson's energy, substituting the pursuit of a better strategy for the real solution - better execution of the basics.

When I'm asked these "strategy" questions, I find myself asking the salesperson to verify the fundamentals. Have you identified the key decision makers and influencers in the account? Have you created trusting personal relationships with each of them? Have you understood the customer's situation at a deep level? Have your presented your solution in a way that gives them reason to do business with you? Have you effectively matched your proposal to the intricacies of the customer's needs?

This line of inquiry almost always reveals a flaw in tactical execution. It's not the strategy that the problem, it's the tactics. Focus on doing the basics first, and the need for a clever strategy diminishes.

Mistake Number Two: Lack of thoughtfulness

The typical field salesperson has, as a necessary and integral part of his/her personality, an inclination toward action. We like to be busy: driving here and there, talking on our cell phones, putting deals together, solving customer's problems -- all in a continuous flurry of activity. Boy, can we get stuff done!

And this high energy inclination to action is a powerful personality strength, energizing the salesperson who wants to achieve success.

But, like every powerful personality trait, this one has a dark backside. Our inclination to act often overwhelms our wiser approach to think before we act.

In our hunger for action, we neglect to take a few moments to think about that action. Is this the most effective place to go? Have I thoroughly prepared for this sales call? Do I know what I want to achieve in this call? Is this the person I should be seeing, or is there someone else who is more appropriate? Is it really wise to drive 30 miles to see this account, and then back tract 45 miles to see another?

Customers these days are demanding salespeople who are thoroughly prepared, who have well thought-out agendas, and who have done their research before the sales call. All of this works to the detriment of the "ready-shoot-aim" type of salesperson.

On the other hand, those who discipline themselves to a regular routine of dedicated time devoted to planning and preparing will find themselves far more effective then their action-oriented colleagues.

Mistake Number Three: Contentment with the superficial

There are some customers who have been called on for years, and yet the salesperson doesn't know any more about them today then he/she did after the second sales call. These are accounts where the salesperson cannot identify one of the account's customers, explain whether or not they are profitable, or identify one of their strategic goals.

Most salespeople have a wonderful opportunity to learn about their customers in deeper and more detailed ways, and often squander it by having the same conversations with the same customers over and over. They never dig deeper. They mistake familiarity with knowledge.

What a shame. I am convinced that the ultimate sales skill -- the one portion of the sales process that more than anything else determines our success as a salesperson -- is the ability to know the customer deeper and in a more detailed way than our competitors do.

It's our knowledge of the customer that allows us to position ourselves as competent, trustworthy consultants. It's our knowledge of the customer that provides us the information we need to structure programs and proposals that distinguish us from everyone else. It's our knowledge of the customer that allows us to proactively serve that customer, to meet their needs even before they have articulated them.

In an economic environment where the distinctions between companies and products are blurring in the eyes of the customer, the successful companies and individuals will be those who outsell the rest. And outselling the rest depends on understanding the customer better than anyone else.

Mistake Number Four: Poor questioning

This is a variation of the mistake above. I am absolutely astonished at the lack of thoughtfulness that I often see on the part of salespeople. Most use questions like sledgehammers, splintering the relationship and bruising the sensibility of their customers by thoughtless questions.

Others don't use them at all, practically ignoring the most important part of a sales call. They labor under the misconception that the more they talk, the better job of selling they do, when the truth lies in exactly the opposite approach.

And others are content to play about the surface of the issue. "How much of this do you use?" "What do you not like about your current supplier?" Their questions are superficial at best, redundant and irritating at worst.

The result? These salespeople never really uncover the deeper more intense issues that motivate their customers. Instead, they continually react to the common complaint of customers who have been given no reason to think otherwise: "Your price is too high."

Fewer sales, constant complaints about pricing, frustrated salespeople, impatient managers, and unimpressed customers - all of these as a result of the inability to use the salesperson's most powerful tool with skill and sensitivity.

Mistake Number Five: No investment in themselves.

Here's an amazing observation. No more than 5% of active, full time professional salespeople ever invest in their own growth. That means that only one of 20 salespeople have ever spent $20.00 of their own money on a book on sales, or subscribed to a sales magazine, taken a sales course, or attended a sales seminar of their own choosing and on their own nickel.

Don't believe me? Take a poll. Ask your salespeople or your colleagues how many of them have invested more than $20.00 in a book, magazine, tape, etc. in the last 12 months. Ask those who venture a positive answer to substantiate it by naming their investment. Don't be surprised if the answers get vague. You'll quickly find out how many sales people in your organization have invested in themselves.

Sales is the only profession I know of where the overwhelming majority of practitioners are content with their personal status quo.

Why is that? A number of reasons...

Some mistakenly think that their jobs are so unique that they cannot possibly learn anything from anyone else. Still others think they know it all. They have, therefore, no interest in taking time from some seemingly valuable thing they are doing to attend a seminar or read a book.

Some don't care. Their focus is hanging onto their jobs, not necessarily getting better at them. But I think the major reason is that the overwhelming majority of salespeople do not view themselves as professionals and, therefore, do not have professional expectations for themselves. They worked their way up from the customer service desk or they landed in sales by chance, and they view their work as a job to be done, not a profession to grow within.

They are content to let their companies arrange for their training or development. And between you and me, they would prefer that their companies really didn't do anything that would require them to actually change what they do.

These are the five most common negative tendencies that I see. It may be that you and your colleagues are immune to these dampers on success. Good for you. But if you are not immune, and if you spot some of your own tendencies in this list, then you are not reaching your potential for success. You have tremendous potential for success -- for contentment, confidence and competence - that is being hindered by these negative behaviors. Rid yourself of these negative tendencies, and you'll begin to reach your potential.

If you would like assistance structuring a sales system or sales development program to suit the specific needs of your company, you can reach Dave Kahle at 800-331-1287 or via email at dave@davekahle.com.

Training The New Network Marketing Distributor Being A Good Mlm Sponsor Step 2 Of 3

2008-12-24T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Bruce Bailey

In Step 1, we talked about "Laying Down a Track to Run On." Here, in Step 2, we'll discuss "Being A Good Sponsor." While many of the people you recruit into your organization may have had previous experience in network marketing, many will be first timers. Similarly, if you've been successful in recruiting people who were involved in other network marketing organizations, you got them because they were disenchanted with their current company. In other words, they weren't as successful as they would have liked to be.

Wouldn't that indicate to you that they don't know the best way to do things? Well, that's where you come in helping them lay that track for others to run on. Again, when new distributors know what works, they can proceed with confidence, and confidence is the handmaiden of success. Remember, people are not duplicable, but systems are.

Step 2 -- Being a Good Sponsor

Being a good sponsor means showing your new distributors "The Rules:"

Rule No. 1: Treat it Like a Business.
In order to be successful, your new distributors must truly want success, be coachable, and follow through on their commitments. In other words, they need to treat this business like a business.

Rule No. 2: Keep it simple.
If they can follow a simple procedure (see Part 1), they will use the same system with their contacts. If they can see that what you did was simple, they will believe they can do it, too. If you had to really work on them, more or less "bullying" them into the business, your new distributors will not want to duplicate what you did and will not take any action.

Rule No. 3: Determine Their Reasons.
If you know what your new distributor wants from this venture, that is, why they want to succeed, you can understand how to get them over the rough spots and keep them on the road to success. Remember, most people will be tempted to quit with the first setback because they were never clear on what they wanted to achieve in the first place. If their "why" is strong enough, the "how" will be easier to get across.

Rule No. 4: Establish Objectives.
Set specific sponsoring and financial objectives for the first 30, 60, and 90 days. People always perform better when they have specific goals in mind.

Rule No. 5: Introduce Your Upline
Introduce new distributors to their upline, those leaders who are building a successful business and who are earning the type of income they'd like to earn. That way, if you're not available to help them, they will have names and telephone numbers of others (you should give them at least 3) who they can contact for support. Further, by meeting others who are earning the type of income they'd like to earn, the system becomes more realistic and attainable.

Rule No. 6: Where's the Tools?
Make sure they know how to get the tools they will need to share the business with others., such as tapes/CDs, brochures, business cards, etc. Every business needs information to disseminate with prospects. This one is no exception. Remember, people are not duplicable, but systems are.

Rule No. 7: Make a Prospect List.
Although everyone who makes a list doesn't necessarily become a top earner, every top earner has a list. Typically, they'll start with their Warm Market, because that's the people they know.

At this point, your new distributor should be ready to go. They have their "reason why" clearly in mind, specific objectives for the next 90 days, their upline's contact information for plenty of support, the tools to get started, and a list of people to contact.

Having said that, remember Rule No. 8: Let Them Move at Their Own Pace. Sponsoring a distributor is a process, not a single event. If they don't want to move as fast as you do, that's OK. You can't change human nature. People will only do what they are willing to do. Encourage, yes, but don't try to force people into something they aren't willing to do.

Bruce Bailey, Ph.D.

Dr. Bailey has transformed the incomes of scores of MLMers. His never-miss tactics have been used by thousands to turn their MLM dreams into realities! For FREE access to his e-course, visit http://www.myidealmlm.com

The Sales Training Series How To Sell Solutions

2008-12-23T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Duane Sparks

Salespeople are commonly told to sell "solutions" and "value" rather than just product features. But when the time comes to present their products, they fall back on generic scripts with no direct connection to any specific needs the customer has revealed. The customer winds up in a one-sided conversation, listening to the salesperson present too many low-priority capabilities.

What salespeople lack is a structure for presenting products in a way that ties features and benefits directly to the customer's expressed needs.

Lack of structure in a presentation is a prescription for lack of perceived value.

There is such a structureAction Selling's TFBR method (for Tie-Back, Feature, Benefit, Reaction). It lets you create sales presentations that communicate a compelling reason to move forward by connecting product features to actual needs the customer has already agreed upon. In other words, TFBR provides the answer to, "How do I sell solutions?"

Solution: To present your product as a solution, tie a specific need the customer has expressed to a feature of your product. Tie-Back by restating the need, then describe the corresponding Feature.

Value: Demonstrate the feature's value to the customer by explaining its Benefit, again in terms of the customer's expressed need.

Confirm: Cement together the solution and value by asking for the customer's Reaction. This tells you if what you have presented is, indeed, perceived as a valuable solution.

Here is an example:

Tie-Back: "You said you were dissatisfied with the unnatural light of your fiber-optic unit."

Feature: "Our Model 2000 uses a color-correcting system that delivers perfectly white light."

Benefit: "This improves the visual sharpness and reduces eye strain and fatigue."

Reaction: "How would a sharper image help with your work?"

When you structure your presentation using the TFBR format for each product feature you discuss, you have a self-correcting method to ensure that what you are presenting is a valuable solution that hits all the right targets.

In The Field:

The TFBR method becomes even more powerful when salespeople get product training and marketing support designed to reinforce it. After introducing his sales team to the Action Selling process, Gerry Giorgio, regional manager with Vaughn Seed a Division of Sandoz Nutrition, decided to take product training and marketing to a higher level.

"We trained our marketing staff in Action Selling sales training as well," Giorgio said. "Now we have successfully integrated our sales skills training with product trainingand marketing develops presentation pieces using the Action Selling TFBR procedure. You know it's working when customers go out of their way to comment on how thorough your salespeople are with their presentation of your product solution."

Duane Sparks is chairman and founder of The Sales Board, a Minneapolis-based sales training company that has trained and certified more than 200,000 salespeople in the system and skills of Action Selling. He has personally facilitated more than 300 Action Selling training sessions.

In a 30-year career as a salesperson and sales manager, Duane has sold products ranging from office equipment to insurance. He was the top salesperson at every company he ever worked for. He developed Action Selling Sales Training while owner of one of the largest computer marketers in the United States. Even in the roaring computer business of the 1980's, his company grew six times faster than the industry norm, differentiating itself not by the products offered but by the way it sold them. Duane founded The Sales Board in 1990 to teach the skills of Action Selling to others.

Contact The Sales Board for more sales information or sales training that's been documented and research-proven to help you sell more! 1-800-232-3485

A Simple Sales Strategy Talk To Yourself

2008-12-22T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Tessa Stowe

You are about to speak to a potential client, go to a networking meeting or give a presentation. What should you be saying to yourself in those few minutes beforehand? If you spend that time saying what I propose below, you will effortlessly and naturally become very attractive to your potential clients. This approach is very powerful, I promise you.

What if, in those few minutes, you say to yourself:

* I desperately need this client.

* I want their money.

* I need to show them how good my services are.

* I need to get them to listen to me.

* I hope they think I am good enough.

* I need to remember my "script" and those objection handling and closing techniques.

* I don't think I am going to enjoy this.

Do you ever say these kinds of things to yourself?

Imagine how you are going to come across if you are be-ing like this? Desperate? Unauthentic? Uncaring? Not relaxed? Attached to the outcome? It's all about me, me, me. Like a salesperson? Oh no!

Instead, just suppose that in those few minutes, you say to yourself:

* I am about to have a conversation to explore if I can help.

* I really want to help.

* I want what's best for this person, even if they don't become my client.

* My focus is on what I can give, not what I can get.

* I am committed to helping but not attached to it.

* I am going to put myself in their shoes. I will look at things from their perspective.

* It's all about them, not me.

* I am going to listen, listen and listen.

* I have no expectations from this conversation.

* I am going to be me (open, honest, full of integrity, natural ...).

* I am going to enjoy this.

* I am going to forget about trying to sell them something.

Imagine now how you are going to come across if you are be-ing like this. Authentic? Caring? Relaxed? Committed? It's all about them. Magnetic? Not at all like a salesperson!

If you are be-ing this way when you are having a conversation, you will quickly build rapport and trust; people will listen to you then. Talk about your solution and products before you do this and what you say will fall on deaf ears.

I suggest you create your own written list by using mine as a starting point. Add to it over time. Say these things, out loud preferably, to yourself before you speak to any potential clients. Then sincerely (or it will not work) be like this.

This may sound silly to some of you but it works. Eventually you will be like this naturally and getting clients will become easier and easier. People will find you magnetic.

This is a simple and yet very powerful technique. Please do not underestimate it. Try it out for yourself and if you do, I promise, you'll quickly be on the path to getting a lot more clients. It's all in the be-ing!

(c) 2005, Tessa Stowe, Sales Conversation. You are welcome to "reprint" this article online as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including the "about the author" info at the end) and all links are made live.

Tessa Stowe helps Coaches and Consultants stop struggling to sell, and instead attract clients like magic! Her FREE e-course tells you how: "Attract More Clients Naturally: 10 Simple Strategies That Work ... Even If You Hate Selling!" Sign up now at http://www.attractmoreclientsnaturally.com

Process Makes Perfect

2008-12-21T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by B Caskey

When I talk about "process" in selling, I am talking about the process which begins when the dialogue starts and ends, not when the PO is signed, but when the solution is complete. I want to help you develop a method of creating and communicating your value that empowers you to control your sales and evaluation processnot the prospect's evaluation and decision process.

I also want you to be able to lay out your process to the unenlightened so that they can follow you. If you can put enough people into your sales process and create environments where that process will lead to outcomes, even if the outcome is "no," then you will reach great success. However, when you either engage too few people in your process or are unable to work them through it, then you limit your income potential.

"A LITTLE SYSTEM PREVENTS A LOT OF BUNGLING." Oxford Dictionary for American Proverbs

The bottom line is you should control the sales process. Not the customer. Remember, they're the ones with the problem in the first place. The person with the solution should always control the sales process. That's you.

Here is an example. Meet Software Associates. They're a software development company that specializes in web software for the financial business. They've been a client of ours for five years. When we first began, they were having trouble moving prospects through their process. They would get hung up half-way through and deals would fall through.

So, I played 'prospect' once in a role play and it became grossly evident what was happening. They weren't helping the prospect. They had absolutely no process laid out to help the prospect buy. Here is what we coached them to say on the first call:

"Mark, thanks for your interest in the software system. Can I take a few minutes and lay out the process that seems to have worked for some of our other clients? I thought we could spend today talking about why you were interested, and what business problems you have in your Information Services department.

Then at the end of this meeting, we can decide if we want to go further. If we decide not to advance this, then neither of us will have wasted any time. If we decide to move forward, I'll probably need to speak with your management team and find out what their issues are. Then if we want to continue after that, you and I can get back together and plan the process from there. Does that sound appropriate?"

Then throughout the sale, we had the sales team practice what we call "orientation." This is the act of laying out your process each step of the ay. On the first call, lay out an overview of the entire cycle. Or, if you're already five calls into the process, then take the next logical number of calls and lay them out. You must always be orienting your prospect to what your process is. This works extremely well if you're in a cycle that is either long or confusing or both.

You can't blame the prospect for not following your process if he doesn't know what it is. If your prospect doesn't buy your product often (less than three times per year) then you will be doing him a favor by orienting him. But orient him to your ideal process not to a worn out process that you've just defaulted into. Think higher.

Action Item
In your next five sales calls take a risk and orient your prospect to your process from this point on. By doing that, you will start to control the process. If your buyer asks for something that you're not ready to give him yet like a proposal or a price simply lay out your process and tell him when you'll give it to him.

Author: Bill Caskey is an author, speaker and innovator. His book, Same Game, New Rules, is in its third printing. He can be contacted at (317) 575-0057 or at www.billcaskey.com.

Author: Bill Caskey is an author, speaker and innovator. His book, Same Game, New Rules, is in its third printing. He can be contacted at (317) 575-0057 or at http://www.billcaskey.com.

Getting People To Buy Without Selling

2008-12-20T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Gloria Whitehorn

In my youth I landed a job selling encyclopedias door to door. I worked for commissions. If I didn't sell anything, I didn't get paid. Trying to sell a high ticket item such as encyclopedias door to door was no small task as you might imagine.

I was desperate to make a sale and I'm sure my desperation showed in my rehearsed sales presentation. I told my potential prospects all about the features of the item, but I didn't tell them how the product could benefit them specifically. Needless to say, by using these sales tactics, I didn't sell one set of encyclopedias.

Your potential prospect is only interested in what the product, or service can do for them. Sure they're interested in the features, but how will those features "serve them?"

The harder you try to sell the less interest your potential prospect will have in your proposition.

They will see your desperation and think..."They're not interested in helping me; they're just trying to make a sale." Show your potential customer "what's in it for them."

Unless you let your potential prospect know how the product benefits them they will be ready to say "NO" before you have a chance to finish your sales presentation.

The 5 fundamental "states of mind" in selling.

Curiosity:
First you have to get your potential prospect curious about how your product, or service will benefit them.

Interest:
Next you have to get your potential prospect interested in knowing more about the product, or service.

Conviction:
You have to convince your potential prospect that your product, or service is something they need and want.

Desire:
You have to create the desire in your potential prospect to own 'it', or to be a part of 'it'.

Decision and Action:
You have to get them to make a decision. You have to get them to take action.

Is it possible to get people to buy without selling?

It sure is. Study your target market. What is there about your product, or service that will appeal to "them?" Just because you are interested in a particular feature pertaining to your product, or service doesn't mean your potential prospect feels the same way about it. Look at it from their viewpoint.

Does your potential prospect want to resell your goods, or service for a profit? Are they going to use your goods, or service for their comfort? Will it save them time and energy? Will it save them money? Will it make them look and feel younger? Will it improve their health? Will it make doing their chores easier? Find out what your prospects main interest is in your goods, or service then concentrate on telling them how that aspect will benefit them.

Take the vacuum cleaner salesman.

Salesman:
"Mrs. Howard, how do you normally clean your carpets?"

Mrs. Howard:

"I use a broom. That's been getting the dirt out pretty well, but it's very tiring."

Salesman:
"Mrs. Howard, although you get some of the dirt and dust off the surface of the carpet with your broom, you don't get it "out" of your carpet. Do you know how much dust and dirt you sweep into your carpet everyday? When it gets walked on the dust and dirt is trampled into the fibers and in time the dust and dirt wears and ruins the fibers of the carpet.

Our power vacuum cleaner will not only get the dirt and dust off the surface of your carpet like a broom does, but it will clean deep down into the pile, loosening and sucking out the dirt and dust that's been embedded in the fibers. This will prolong the life of your carpet saving you the expense of buying a new one.

And when you use a broom a lot of dust and dirt is moved into the air. This dust and dirt not only finds it's way onto your furniture and drapery, but into your lungs as well. By using our power vacuum cleaner the air in your home will be healthier and everything will remain cleaner because unlike using a broom the dust and dirt isn't moved into the air, it's sucked into our power vacuum cleaner. Our machine is also lightweight, so it's easy to handle. It glides across the floor effortlessly (he demonstrates the movement of the vacuum cleaner across the floor). You won't have to work hard every day to get out the dirt and dust like you did when you were using your broom. This power vacuum cleaner gets the job done fast and easy."

Mrs. Howard:
"How much does it cost?"

Salesman:
"I can let you have it for 12 easy payments of $43.25. Your total cost is just $519.00."

Mrs. Howard:
"Oh yes, I need one of these. Do I give you the $43.25 now, or do you bill me?"

Salesman:
"We can start you off right now, that way your first month will be already paid for. Your next payment will be due 30 days from now and every 30 days from that until paid off."

(The salesman closes the sale.)

Mrs. Howard purchased the vacuum cleaner from the salesman because the salesman told her how she could benefit from such a purchase.

And when the salesman was telling Mrs. Howard about the vacuum cleaner they didn't seem desparate to make the sale. They were speaking to her like a good friend would when they give advice. They were simply giving her some facts to help her make a "buying decision."

When you make your potential prospect realize that the benefits from purchasing the product or service is worth more to them than the money it costs, they'll be willing to pay the price you ask. You'll get them to buy without selling them anything because the product, if it has good benefits for the prospect, will sell itself. Here are the qualities you should look for in a product you sell direct:

*It should be an item that has broad market appeal. An item every man and woman can use and need right now.

*A quick and easy demonstrator.

*Sells at a price everybody can afford.

*You should be able to purchase it at rock bottom so you can make big full profit on every sale.

*And it should be a product the customer comes back and buys again and again.

With these elements in place you will have a product that sells itself. And by putting the needs of your customers first, you will get repeat requests for your product or service without selling.

About the Author:

http://www.dovemang.com

Sales Process The Secret To Closing More Sales

2008-12-19T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Alan Rigg

Most sales training programs that teach salespeople how to sell specific products or services do not mention business problems. This is an unfortunate oversight, as qualifying and quantifying business problems is the secret to closing more sales!

What is a Business Problem?

A business problem is any activity or outcome that negatively impacts a business. Examples of negative impacts include reductions in revenue, profits, customer satisfaction, employee productivity, job satisfaction, etc.

Here is an example of a business problem description:

"Many mission-critical software applications (e-business, manufacturing, point-of-sale, etc.) need to access relational databases in order to function. If a database has problems (goes down or suffers data loss or corruption), application downtime can cost companies tens of thousands of dollars per minute in lost sales, lost customers, and lost opportunities."

In the above example, the business problem is a database that is not functioning properly.

What is the relationship between Business Problems and the Features and Benefits of a product or service?

Features are what actually solve business problems. Benefits are what customers enjoy when the business problem has been solved.

The only features prospects actually care about are the ones that will solve their own specific business problems. If we randomly spew long lists of features and benefits at prospects, in effect we are hoping they are already aware of their business problems, and they will somehow figure out which of our (product or service) features will solve their business problems. This is a very inefficient way to sell. Plus, we run the risk that our prospects will NOT figure out which features will solve their business problems. Or, they may become bored and "switch off" before we mention features that may actually be of interest to them!

If you are going to talk about features and benefits, discuss only those features that will solve your prospect's specific business problems! Of course, you need to identify your prospect's business problems if you want to have this kind of highly targeted discussion.

If your employer's product or service training programs do not specifically address business problems, you will need to do some digging to uncover them. Ask the question, "What problems does this product or service solve?" Another way to ask this question is, "What would motivate a prospect to make the investment required to buy this product/service?" Then, once you have made a list of the most important business problems, ask, "What questions can I ask that will help me figure out whether a prospect has any of these business problems?"

When you become an expert in business problems and related qualifying questions, your education will not be complete. You also need to learn the questions you can ask to quantify the impact of each business problem.

What is a Quantified Impact?

Quantified impacts are dollar values or percentages with associated time frames that can be assigned to specific business problems. In the earlier business problem description, the quantified impact was "tens of thousands of dollars per minute".

Quantified impacts are an invaluable aid to closing sales. How? If the quantified impact of a business problem exceeds the investment required to fix the problem, a buying decision is easy to justify. The larger the difference between the quantified impact and the required investment, the easier it becomes to close the sale. If the quantified impact is a multiple of the required investment (for example, a quantified impact of millions of dollars versus a required investment of thousands of dollars), the buying decision becomes "a no-brainer".

IMPORTANT NOTE: In order for a quantified impact to add value to the sales process, your prospect must be the source of the numbers. Why? In general, prospects don't trust salespeople. Many have dealt with salespeople who were more interested in making sales than they were in providing value. Plus, prospects recognize that salespeople have a vested interest in creating a compelling business case that can be used to support a buying decision. This causes prospects to discount any quantified impact information that salespeople provide. However, if the prospect is the source of the quantified impact information, they perceive it as unquestioned truth. This makes learning how to ask quantifying questions a valuable skill indeed!

If you want to close more sales, invest some time and effort in identifying the business problems that can be solved by your products and services. If you become an expert in business problems and the questions you can ask to 1) determine whether a prospect has specific business problems, and 2) quantify the impact of those business problems, you will close more sales faster and with less effort.

Sales performance expert Alan Rigg is the author of How to Beat the 80/20 Rule in Selling: Why Most Salespeople Don't Perform and What to Do About It. His company, 80/20 Sales Performance, helps business owners, executives, and managers DOUBLE sales by implementing The Right Formula for building top-performing sales teams. For more information and more FREE sales and sales management tips, visit http://www.8020salesperformance.com.

Yikes My Feet Hurt 8 Tips For Trade Show Exhibitors

2008-12-18T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Julia O'Connor

Yikes - My Feet Hurt!

Concrete. Tiles. Cheap carpet. Walking, walking. Standing, standing. Talking, talking. Walking, standing, talking - and walking some more.

We've become a comfortable people. We don't walk miles per day on hard surfaces. We don't stand for hours in a relatively confined space. And, we get grumpy when we're required to do so.

Not only do we get grumpy inside, we show it on the outside. Our shoulders droop. Our smiles become forced or disappear. We begin to make snide little comments - "Boy, this is a a long show." Or "I feel like I've been here forever."

We perch on the edge of tables, put elbows on counters or just sit down - forcing visitors to lean over to talk to us. We look bored and people who may stop to talk to us just pass by. Who wants to deal with grumpy people?

Trade shows are hard work. And, they're hardest on your feet. Here are some tips to make the show more pleasant, whether you're in the booth or walking the aisles.

1. Remember that "your feet are your friends", so simple foot care is a priority before you subject them to long stretches of stress. Get the pedicure. Protect any injuries you may have.

2. Wear comfortable shoes. Not old ugly comfortable shoes. Nice, polished professional comfortable shoes. Never new shoes. Make sure your socks or hose fit properly in the shoes - lumps and bumps rub blisters.

3. Your shoes should be appropriate to your attire. You just look funny in a business suit and big white running shoes. Note - often you will go straight from a trade show to seminars or receptions, so plan outfits that can be worn for an extended period.

4. Never Ever take off your shoes in the booth. Tacky, tacky.

5. Women & Men - take a minimum of 3 pairs of shoes of varying heel heights which are comfortable to you. Use inside lifts. Change shoes at least twice a day.

6. It's important to keep your posture erect - shoulders straight, head up. When we're tired, we have a tendency to curl over, dropping our head and shoulders. The simple solution? Bend your knees slightly - that throws the spine back into alignment and re-balances your posture.

7. If you have a recent or recurring injury, don't take the chance of doing more damage. Use a cane or wheelchair. If you use a wheelchair, please add a flag that sticks above at eye-level. I've seen too many near-misses between the wheelchair and the flow of aisle traffic. People walking in the aisles are looking up or straight ahead, not below shoulder level.

8. When it just gets to be too much, when your dogs are really barking, here's my favorite remedy. Just before bedtime, soak your feet in warm water. Rinse in cold water. Massage your feet, ankles and calves with Ben-Gay, Tiger Balm or other such product. Put on an old pair of socks that you'll throw away the next day. Sleep and you'll have refreshed feet for another day of walking, standing and talking - and walking some more.

Julia O'Connor - Speaker, Author, Consultant - is president of Trade Show Training, inc. Based in Richmond, VA, TSTi provides sales and marketing assistance to exhibiting companies. She is the author of "The Trade Show Reader - It Takes More Than a Display and a Handshake to Sell at a Trade Show", the definitive book for trade show exhibitors.

http://www.TradeShowTraining.com - 800-355-3910

Build Rapport By Mirroring

2008-12-17T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Dan Hudock

Traditionally, salespeople look for something in the office that begs a question. For example, "Is that your sailfish on the wall?"

How many times do you think that prospect has been asked that question? How often do you think the prospect hears a salesperson ask about the family portrait on the desk, last night's baseball game, etc.? The prospect anticipates these questions. Verbal skill is actually a very small part of the rapport quotient. Non-verbal communication goes a long way toward establishing rapport with your prospect.

This may seem to suggest the need to learn to read body language. But it's not as simple as interpreting (guessing) what your prospect's body language is saying. The fact is, people feel comfortable with people who are like themselves! So, as a professional salesperson, you can use a technique called mirroring to match your prospect's body language so that your prospect relaxes and feels comfortable in your presence.

Show and Tell (and Touch)

All of us interpret our personal environments through our senses, which act like filters. Your mind is constantly asking, "How does what just happened fit into my world? How do I make sense of this and that?"

You use your senses to interpret your environment: sight, smell, sound, touch, and taste. For certain stimuli you use only one of these senses; for others, you use some combination of the senses.

In the business world, three senses are dominant: sight, sound, and touch. (Unless you sell a food product, you generally cannot give your prospect the opportunity to taste or smell.)

Most of the time, your prospects rely on one sense more than the others to make decisions. Prospects are either visual people, meaning they need to see a picture before they can make a decision; or auditory, meaning they need to hear something before they can make a decision; or kinesthetic, meaning they need to touch or feel to make a decision. Some combination of these senses is at work in all prospects, but one sense tends to dominate.

So what happens when your prospect is kinesthetic and you walk into the room and say: "How ëbout those Cowboys? Did you see the game yesterday?" How does your kinesthetic prospect who needs to touch gain any sense of commonality out of what you said? You'd want to say: "Wow, doesn't it make you feel great when those Cowboys win?" Your kinesthetic prospect knows, indeed, what it feels like when the Cowboys win or lose.

How can you tell which sense dominates the prospect's decision making engine? Listen for the clues. Every prospect will give them to you. Just listen to what the prospect says.

A visual prospect will say something like, "That seems a little fuzzy to me. Can you show me a picture," or, "I'm having some trouble focusing on that idea. I'd like to see that in my mind's eye." Visual people use their eyes to view the world around them and they need visual images to communicate. If you want to sell a visual prospect, you've got to speak visually. "What do you see yourself accomplishing?" is a good question to ask a visual.

An auditory prospect may say, "What does it sound like when you make the connection," "Can you comment on the importance of this gadget," or, "I've got to make it clear as a bell in order to announce it at the next level." Auditory people use their ears to make sense of the world. Next time you go to a concert, look around for the people who have their eyes closed. They're not sleeping; they're listening. They don't need to see the orchestra to enjoy the music.

A kinesthetic prospect may say, "It feels a little muddled to me. It's got to fit hand-in-glove with what we're already doing," or, "It's a sensitive issue, and I've got be comfortable with it." The kinesthetic prospect seeks trust. Learn to create the feeling of trust, and you can quickly establish rapport with a kinesthetic person. Equally important: Kinesthetics want to know that you are about them.

By "reading" your prospects' cues and "living" in their world, you can quickly establish rapport and begin to improve your sales proficiency. Your goal as a salesperson is to learn these bonding and rapport techniques and practice them repeatedly.

Dan Hudock is an owner of the Sandler Sales Institute in Pittsburgh, PA. He can be reached at (724) 940-2388 or dan@sandler.com. His web site is: http://www.dan.sandler.com

Sales Training Effectiveness Increase Your Bottom Line With Sales Training That Sticks

2008-12-16T21:00:00.001-08:00

Writen by Chuck Mache

Why are sales training programs so often unsuccessful? The typical company spends tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars to put its entire sales force through the latest, hottest sales training program touted to increase its bottom line numbers. But, just as with all the previous sales training efforts, only a small percentage of participants embrace the new skills taught. For everyone else, the status quo reins, and the bottom line doesn't move one bit. What went wrong, and how can it be done right?

Getting to the next level in selling requires a careful evaluation of your sales executive's true intentions.

Many executives, and even the sales trainers themselves believe that sales training is a one-size-fits-all proposition. They couldn't be more wrong! Your sales executives or representatives cannot improve unless they are absolutely honest about who they are, what their intentions and motivations are, how good they are and what their strengths and weaknesses are. Only then can behavior be modified. Not all reps have the same intentions or motivations and therefore are not equally prepared for training. That's why standard training programs work for only a small minority, while leaving the majority of the audience unmoved.

The first step to sales training success is to determine and evaluate the makeup of your organization's sales team. The four types of sales professionals are:

* The Performers -- They are the natural-born top producers. They have big egos and are emotional, intuitive, passionate, competitive, extroverted and impatient. Performers don't learn in training sessions, they learn by doing.

* Professionals -- They also top producers, but they are even-tempered, analytical, logical and quietly competitive. They are internally passionate and patient and have a very controlled ego. They thrive in the classroom setting.

* Caretakers They are those are stuck in a comfort zone. They are passive-aggressive, don't like change and don't like to attempt anything difficult. Although they show signs of brilliance, they are inconsistent or mediocre producers. The good news is that they are sleeping Performers or Professionals, depending on their personality.

* Searchers These sales representatives get into sales because they perceive it to be easy, but then they don't do what it takes to be successful because it is too painful for them. Victims of poor hiring decisions, they soon realize that they really dislike sales. Searchers do not belong in sales positions.

This eye-opening exercise gives both rep and manager a basis for future discussion in a one-on-one meeting. Even in a private session, reaching agreement can be challenging, but one thing is certain -- productivity never lies. If someone is in the top tier or is showing consistent upward sales, he or she is most likely a Performer or a Professional. If not, the rep belongs in one of the other two categories.

The remaining steps of the breakthrough model focus on developing customized training based on identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the individual and then getting personal commitments to change from all those willing to do so.

Step 2: Identify what makes a superstar salesperson.

What does the perfect sales executive or representative do? What are their characteristics? What are their strengths? What is the most important qualities that they possess?

While most sales training is focused on product knowledge, get specific to your industry and items such as solid work ethic, superb presentation skills, and the ability to build relationships. Define passion and goal setting. Here's a tip: Let the sales team build the perfect rep.

Step 3: Evaluate each salesperson's skills and behaviors against the best, identified practices

Have the sales reps rank themselves and each other on a scale of one to five (from weak to strong) against the "perfect rep." Then, have their manager rank each one in the same manner. Finally, synthesize the scores and come to an agreement on each rep's ranking in each category. Gaining agreement may have to come in an individual meeting between manager and rep.

Step 4: Customize the path to breakthrough achievement.

Once every rep's strengths and weaknesses have been identified and rated according to the ideal, it becomes possible to customize each sales executive's path to breakthrough. Train individuals in their weak areas weak, and leverage their strengths to help in the effort. Schedule ongoing training sessions that range from 15 minutes to one hour each, depending on topic and individual needs. Make sure ongoing and consistent weekly or monthly follow-up takes place. It is critical for successful transformation.

Step 5: Get a commitment to change.

It can be difficult to get everyone on board, but if the first four steps are done correctly the percentage of committed salespeople skyrockets. Unless they are motivated to improve performance, no amount of training will succeed. Some people are simply not interested in changing, but these first four steps can break even the hard cases.

When motivation and commitment are strong, a Caretaker can become a Performer or a Professional depending on their personality. Professionals can begin to take more risks in their selling game, thus opening up new opportunities. Performers can learn to balance their emotions and spend more time in the selling zone.

Invest In Success

Pure and simple, traditional sales training programs fail because most participants don't embrace them. . Lacking any motivation to improve, they only go through the motions of the program because they have been told to do so. Next time before spending your money on sales training, make sure the sales force is prepared to train and that the dots are connected through the five steps of the Breakthrough Model.

Chuck Mache, President of Chuck Mache Communications, has more than 25 years experience in selling, managing, building and leading sales organizations regionally and internationally. Buy his Brian Tracy endorsed book, The Four Kinds of Sales People: Your Personal Path to Breakthrough Achievement and explore his key breakthrough strategies and behavioral insights that will takes your sales training to the next level. And, don't forget to sign up for Chuck's monthly newsletter "Chuck Talk" at http://www.ChuckMache.com