Knowledge Is Power: Seek First To Know And Then To Do

To become the best sales person possible you must first learn the principles and skills of sales and then properly apply them. Consider this question, “How much time do you spend each week studying the principles and techniques of sales in order to help your prospects and to increase your income?” The typical medical doctor spends on average eleven hours each week in personal study and clinical observation in order to stay on the cutting edge of their profession. A CPA will spend an average of nearly eight hours each week in preparation and learning to stay abreast of the most current tax laws. Amazingly, sales people earning a six-figure income spend on average less than three hours per week studying the principles and skills of sales.

Unfortunately, there are very few colleges and universities that offer degree programs in sales. A few class are offered that deal with some aspects of sales, but the typical college program does not offer a concise and specific sales program. Weber State University offers one of the only sales related degrees in the country, but it is still limited in the curriculum that it can offer. Unlike other professions, sales people are on their own to learn and apply the correct principles and skills. Sales training is a multi billion-dollar industry. There is no shortage of knowledgeable trainers or excellent materials. The issue is whether on not sales people or employers take advantage of what is available. During the course of our lives we will deal with more sales people than all the doctors, lawyers, CPA’s and all other professionals combined. And yet, the sales people we conduct business with will be by far the least educated and least prepared to solve our problems.

Several years ago I was working with the president of a local company. We had been doing an excellent job training his sales people. His son was about to enter college and they decided to enroll at a local college where I had been teaching a course on sales. The idea was to receive some of the same training in a classroom setting that I had offered his employees in our regular corporate training program. Unfortunately, I didn’t teach that semester so my client decided to hire his son as a sales person so he could receive sales training and coaching along with the other sales people in the company. This young man has diligently (sometimes not happily) applied the principles and skills he has learned. His performance has been greater than any other sales person in the company prior to engaging their sales people in a training program. His first year’s commission income at age twenty-five was fifty-one thousand dollars. Second year income at age twenty-six was ninety-seven thousand dollars. Third year income at age twenty-seven was one hundred and twenty-six thousand dollars. When sales people study, learn and apply, there is no limit to their income.

A typical sales person might believe they don’t have time to study their profession. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is always time to do what you want to do. If you believed that spending time each day studying and learning your profession would increase your income, I’m sure you would spend the time. As an example, during this past year the sales people we have trained have increased their gross profit sales on average two hundred and sixty percent. That translates into more than a two and a half times increase in their commission income. Studying, learning, and applying the correct sales principles and skills is the answer to increased profitable and sales and increased income. Sales people can’t afford not to spend the time to learn. Doctors spend eleven hours a week learning, CPA’s spend eight hours each week leaning. Imagine what your income could be if you spent ten hours each week learning and perfecting your sales skills. Knowledge is power, the power to determine your own financial destiny. Discover the many resources available for learning the profession of sales and commit the time to become the best sales person possible.

Overcome Complacency To Increase Sales Results

There is an old saying, “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again hoping for a different result.” According to this definition of behavior, sales people often perform as though they are insane. I have often responded to the inquiry, “how are you doing?” with the response, “I’m in a comfortable rut.” In other words, I’m doing what I have always been doing and feel comfortable in the process. There is nothing inherently wrong with comfort, however, comfort is the first stage of complacency and complacency is the beginning of mediocrity.

What better time than now to evaluate your sales performance and look for areas of improvement. With the New Year almost here, you can put the past behind you and look to a new day of improved activity and enhanced performance. Doing the same things over and over again in your sales process without refinement and improved results will never lead to the success you are capable of achieving. What is it that you are doing and what are your expectations? When was the last time you took a step backwards and analyzed your activities in relation to your results? With the New Year at your heals, take a few minutes to ponder five performance enhancing activities that will lift you from a pattern of complacency.

ACTIVITY NUMBER ONE: Set goals. Take time to determine what you want to accomplish in your sales career. Be specific, believe and step out or your comfort zone. Just because you have never achieved a particular level of performance doesn’t mean you can’t, it only means you haven’t achieved it yet. With each goal, establish a number of steps necessary to achieve the goal. These steps are the specific activities that must be accomplished to reach your goal. These steps are the day-to-day and week-by-week actions necessary to move along the path of achievement.

ACTIVITY NUMBER TWO: Plan and schedule your time. Time is the most valuable commodity in the world. Time is essential for success, wealth, happiness, family, and achievement in any form. Time cannot be saved and must be used in the precise moment in order to have any value. You have a choice every day as to how you use your time. It can be used for value or waste, time doesn’t care, it continues without regard to its use until it is gone. If you want to truly break out of the shackles of complacency in your life, you need to control time and the only way to control time is to manage it. Begin each day with a personal and private planning session. Identify what you want to accomplish for the day and always think in terms of your long-term goals. If you are not striving to accomplish the day-to-day steps of your goals, they will never get done. Certain things must be done each day while other things should be done. If you don’t plan, very little will ever actually be accomplished. Daily planning will increase your achievement by as much as one hundred percent.

ACTIVITY NUMBER THREE: Evaluate and improve your sales process. What is it that you do, and what must be done in order to complete a typical average sale? Think of your most successful sale. What steps did you follow to make the sale? Think of your activity in terms of a process. Now, write down the process and commit yourself to doing those activities on a consistent basis to create a pattern of performance, which will become a road map for your sales success. Most sales people don’t spend enough time prospecting, so make sure you include a healthy portion. Remember, prospecting is not cold calling but rather the act of finding opportunities. Use your current customer base as the basis for your prospecting. You can never follow-up too much. National statistics indicate that it takes between five and seven contacts for a prospect to feel comfortable enough to make a purchasing decision. However, most sales people follow-up only three to four times.

ACTIVITY NUMBER FOUR: Commit yourself to working harder and smarter than ever before. Most sales people spend on average only four hours per day working on sales related activities. They put eight hours on the time clock, but only half that time is spent focused on their sales. Planning and scheduling each day will be a great help in working smarter. This will help you will be more aware of which activities need to be completed, how much time should be spent on each activity and when to do them. Determining how much time to spend on each activity is a classic method of working smarter. You should then work hard to complete the task within that amount of time. Working hard requires focus and working smart requires doing the right activities at the right time. Working hard and working smart both require effective daily planning.

ACTIVITY NUMBER FIVE: Discover a purpose in your life so compelling that you will be willing to commit to do the sales activities that less successful sales people are not willing to do. The story is told of a young man who discovered the common denominator of success. He had a definite purpose in his life and it was definitely a sentimental or emotional one. He wanted his son to go through college without having to work his way through as he had done. He wanted to avoid for his little daughter the hardships that his own sister had faced in her childhood. Also, he wanted his wife and the mother of his children to enjoy the luxuries and comforts, and even necessities that had been denied his own mother. To accomplish this purpose, he was willing to form the habit of doing the things he didn't like to do in order to accomplish his purpose.

Enthusiasm Sells

The story is told of a businessman who spent several days each week traveling around the country visiting his different clients. Spending so many days away from home, he was becoming somewhat weary when it came to mealtime. Restaurant food had become routine and he was always looking for something different or at least better. One afternoon as he entered a local restaurant in the town he was traveling, he was seated at a table and handed a menu. As he perused the typical offerings he was about to settle for the same old fare he had been eating for weeks.

About that time, the waitress came by and asked if he had decided. He asked, “What would you recommend?” Immediately her demeanor changed. She lit up like a Christmas tree and started talking about the most wonderful stew, a signature item for the restaurant. She was almost giddy as she described the meat and vegetables, the thick gravy and a taste that was heavenly. She said it was her favorite of all the items on the menu, and a favorite of all the locals. She talked about how it was prepared and how the vegetables were fresh and cooked just to the point of being soft, but not mushy. She described the chunks of sirloin tip steak that was cooked so tender and seasoned to perfection. She went on and on for several minutes bubbling with emotion as she described this wonderful stew to the businessman. When she finally concluded her most enthusiastic presentation, the businessman said, “I’ll have a large bowl of your ENTHUSIASTIC STEW".

Enthusiasm is contagious. Enthusiasm is refreshing. Enthusiasm is a secret weapon that every sales person can use to sell their products and services. Enthusiasm might very well be the difference between making a sale and losing a sale. In the story of the businessman and the stew, I’m not so certain that the waitress really cared if the man ordered the stew or something else on the menu. But, her enthusiasm and excitement for the stew became contagious and was a main consideration for the man making his decision. A recommendation for a product and service can be made with the words we say, but an even more powerful recommendation is found in the emotion or enthusiasm we have for the product.

On Monday the 8th day of December, the government officially declared that the nation is in the midst of an economic recession. What does this mean? Simply stated, growth in gross national product is either neutral or declining. For most business they are anticipating that their sales will decrease during this time. For the few, they will realize that even though times are more difficult there will still be purchases made and the opportunities are still there. Sales people need to work smarter, harder and do things that haven’t been done in the past because of complacency. One of those things that needs to be done to improve performance during these challenging times is to be enthusiastic. Show your enthusiasm for your products and services. Show your enthusiasm for the market you are working. Show enthusiasm for your company. Show enthusiasm for being a sales person.

Your competitors have already made a fatal mental error by conceding that due to the recession, sales will be down. With that mentality they can’t be faulted. Their lack of effort is not the reason that sales are down, it is the recession. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sales will be down for those that believe they will be down. For the rest of us, sales can be as good or better than they were before the government declared a recession. It won’t be easy and it won’t be done doing things as before. Here are five things that will allow you to succeed during these difficult times:

1. Be Enthusiastic.
2. Manage your time – Plan and schedule every day.
3. Spent eight hours each day selling, not just doing stuff.
4. See the people.
5. Use your existing customer base for additional sales and referrals.

The Greatest Service A Sales Person Can Provide Is A Solution To A Problem

A sales person who sells someone something they don’t need should be taken behind the proverbial old barn and horse whipped. The same goes for a sales person who is unable to persuade someone to buy something they really do need because the prospect will end up buying something they don’t need from someone else.

Sales people should be trusted advisors of goods and services just as the physician is a trusted advisor for someone’s health and just as a financial consultant and CPA are trusted advisors for someone’s wealth and just as an attorney is a trusted advisor for someone’s personal and business affairs and just as a minister is a trusted advisor for someone’s spiritual affairs. All of these advisors are professionals in their various fields of expertise, and people are drawn to them because they can be trusted. All of these professionals operated under a code of ethics that provides the confidence that they will act and perform their duties properly.

As an advisor for the purchase of goods and services, a sales person ultimately has more involvement in the wellbeing of a person’s life than all of the other professionals combined. Yet, how many sales people take their profession as seriously as the physician, the financial consultant, the CPA, the attorney or the minister. They all study their profession for years in colleges and universities, many with advanced degrees followed by internships and additional preparation. As a sales person, what are you doing to become a professional in your industry, and what are you doing to prepare yourself to be the trusted advisor to ensure the prospect buys the right product or service to solve their problem?

Become a student of your product or service. Learn all you can about how it is made, how it works, what it can do and how it can solve various problems. Know your product, and when you reach the point of not being able to know any more, know who does know and use them as a resource. Many years ago when I was working in the steel industry, my boss, the senior vice president of sales gave me a book to study. Within the covers of this book was all the knowledge anyone would need to understand the technical aspects of the steel industry. The book was called The Making, Shaping and Treating of Steel. In essence, it was the equivalent of a Master Degree in metallurgy. I read the book, studied the book in addition to many other companion books during my years as a sales person in the steel industry. However, there were always things that I didn’t know, but I knew who did know, and I used them to reinforce my own knowledge. I discovered that knowledge was power, and the power allowed me to solve problems that others were unable to discern.

Understand your customers, their industries and markets. If you worked for them, you would be their most successful sales person. Knowing your customer allows you to know their needs, and provide them with the right solutions. You are not just selling a product or a service; you are solving problems and meeting their needs. The only way to know your customers is to walk in their shoes. Spend time with them and get into their heads. Understand the how’s and why’s of their business. During my sales career, I worked with hundreds of companies in almost as many industries. I learned their business, their products, their industry and markets. Now I’m a good sales person, not the best by any means. However, I would have been a top sales person for any of the companies that I consulted with because I spent the time to learn the relationship between products, needs and solutions. If you don’t know your customer even better than they know themselves, you haven’t prepared yourself well enough to become their trusted advisor, and you will never be able to provide the service they are looking for; solutions to their problems!

Effective Questioning Is The Key To Increased Sales

Effective questioning is one of the most powerful tools a sales person can use to close more sales. Most sales people are excellent at talking about the features and benefits of their products and services, but far fewer sales people are effective in asking the questions that lead to increased sales. In each phase of the sales process, questions are essential for success.

In the first phase, prospecting, questions are necessary to know if the prospect has any current or future need for your products. The use of a provocative question can be very effective in creating enough interest in the mind of the prospect to want to learn more about your product or service. Selling is all about relationships. Professional sales people spend time asking questions about the prospect in order to build the trust necessary for the prospect to buy from them.

In the next phase of the sales process, the assessing phase, the initial questions should be focused on the prospects job, responsibilities, company, products, etc. At this point in the sales process the attention needs to be focused on the prospect. We call these questions “seed questions”. Each question encourages the prospect to reveal more information about themselves. The answer to each question can be used as the seed for asking additional questions. Some examples of seed questions are: how long have you been working for this company? Exactly what do you do? What training was necessary to be qualified for this position? How did you get started in this industry? What did you do before you started working here? With each answer additional questions can be asked, building rapport and creating a comfortable environment for the prospect.

Next, we want to ask questions focused specifically on the needs of the prospect. Questions that would help us know and feel their pain; questions that would reveal their need for our products. We call these questions Crystal Ball Questions. If you could look into a crystal ball you would know everything necessary to make a sale. Through effective crystal ball questions you can have the same benefit as looking into a crystal ball. Most sales people do not ask enough questions to really understand the prospects pain. They think they know, but in reality they are simply assuming. Sales people who start selling before they have assessed the needs or pain of the prospect lose credibility and sales. Let me give you an example:

A few years ago I scheduled an appointment with my doctor, Dr. Lee. I wasn’t feeling well and decided to go in for a check-up to see if anything was physically wrong with me. I arrived at the doctor’s office with time to spare, and waited the typical fifteen to twenty minutes before the doctor was ready to see me. The nurse had me fill out several forms, took my height and weight and then escorted me into examination room #4 where she told me to strip down to the waist and sit on the exam table, you know, the one with the crinkly paper where your legs dangle like a first grader. As she left the room she said Dr. Lee would come in shortly.

After about five minutes there was a sharp knock on the door as Dr. Lee walked in. His glasses were down over his nose as his attention was focused on my chart attached to his clipboard. After a few moments reviewing the chart he looked up over the top of his glasses and told me he was writing me a prescription that he wanted me to take three time a day for the next week and that I should report to the hospital the following Monday at 7:00 am for surgery. He also instructed me not to eat any solid foods after lunch on Sunday. “Any questions”, he asked. Yes, I had a lot of questions. What is the prescription for, why surgery, what is going on here. I was thinking to myself, “you haven’t done any assessment. Take my blood pressure and listen to my heart. Listen to my lungs. I can breath deep, in and out. Draw some blood and I’ll even pee in a bottle!” Now, is there any difference between my experience with Dr. Lee and sales people who just assume the prospect needs their products without first assessing their needs through effective question?

The next phase of the sales process is the presentation phase. This is where sales people can really shine by telling the prospect all about their product. However, most sales people turn the presentation into a boring monologue, totally leaving the prospect out of the conversation. A sales presentation should be a dialogue where the prospect is still very much involved. With each key point the sales person should engage the prospect through questioning to assess their interest, their need, their thoughts and concerns. If the prospect is not engaged in the dialogue of the presentation a sale will rarely take place. When discussing your products and services, never make a statement that could be formulated into a question engaging the prospect in the conversation. When the prospect is engaged in the conversation a psychological bond forms between the two parties allowing the prospect to gain the trust and confidence necessary to make a buying decision.

Questions are critical in the completion phase of the sales process. People do not buy if they have questions or unresolved concerns. Sales people must ask those question that will allow the prospect to comfortably reveal their concerns. Never assume that if the prospect doesn’t express any concerns that they don’t have any! Everyone has questions or concerns in their mind. If you don’t get them to reveal them so they can be resolved, the sale will not take place. Ask the questions, “so what do you like about the product as we discussed it? What concerns to do have? Besides that, what else? And then having revealed and resolved all of their concerns, the sales person needs to ask for the business. The direct question, “do you want one?” can be effective. Or the assumptive, “Shall I have it delivered tomorrow?” also works very well. “Do you want one or two?” can boost your sales. To be at your very best, questions need to be asked in all phases of the sales process.

To Be Successful In Sales You Must Learn To Overcome Adversity

Eighty percent of all buyers say “No” before they eventually say “Yes”. The word no is an easy and convenient way of saying, “I don’t have time right now”, or “I don’t know enough about your product to say yes”, or “I’m not in the mood to buy anything right now”, or a lot of other reasons. Sales people can find adversity every time they turn around in the world of sales. There will always be adversity and to be successful, sales people must learn how to deal with it. When pondering the trials of being a sales person, I often think of the story of the farmer and the mule.

A farmer owned an old mule. One day the mule fell into the farmer’s well. The farmer, hearing the mule braying, rushed over to see what had happened. After assessing the situation, the farmer decided that neither the mule nor the well was worth the trouble of saving.

Instead, he called his neighbors together and told them what had happened, and enlisted their help to haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well and put him out of his misery. At first the old mule was hysterical. But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back a thought struck him. It suddenly dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back, he could shake it off and step up. So this he did, blow after blow – shake it off and step up, shake it off and step up, shake it off and step up.

It wasn’t long before the old mule, battered, dirty and exhausted, stepped triumphantly over the wall of the well. What seemed like it would bury him had actually been the means of his rescue. Yes, it’s all in how you handle adversity. No matter how much dirt is thrown on you, just SHAKE IT OFF AND STEP UP.

Sales people need to adopt the same attitude as the mule and shake off the opposition and step up to find new opportunities. I don’t believe any sales person has had to deal with more opposition than Bill Porter. Bill Porter first came to public attention when The Portland Oregonian wrote an article about him called “Life of a Salesman.” His inspirational life and message spread world-wide when 20/20 ran a segment on him and TNT aired a movie about his life, called Door to Door. But he had already been touching the lives of the people to whom he sold products and of his managers and co-workers at
Watkins Products for years.

Bill Porter was born with cerebral palsy. Once told by the State of Oregon he was “unemployable,” he overcame the odds against him and got a job as a door-to-door salesman for Watkins Products. He went on to become the company’s top salesman, one door at a time, succeeding by staying focused on what he was passionate about--sales. Few sales people will have to deal with the challenges that Bill Porter was born with, and yet many sales people will allow adversity to blind their path and hinder their success. Many of the great achievers in life have had to overcome challenges and adversity to become great. Let me tell you about Peter Grey and Pete Strudwick.

As a young man, Peter Grey had a tremendous desire to play professional baseball. He said to himself, "Some day I'll play in the major leagues at Yankee Stadium." So, Peter went to work to attain his dream. He played for his high school team and them became a star player for his college baseball team. Due to his willingness to work hard and follow his dream, Peter finally ended up playing in the major league.

Although Peter Grey only played for the St. Louis Browns for one year and only played at Yankee Stadium one time in his short career, many fans feel he should be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. His fans feel that way even though Peter never hit home runs or did anything we might consider great. You see, Peter Grey had only one arm.

And then there is Pete Strudwick, a marathon runner. Pete regularly competes in the grueling Pike's Peak Marathon, one of the most difficult in the world. Over the years he has run more than 25,000 miles. You might ask, "what is so great about that, a lot of people run marathons?" Well, Pete Strudwick runs marathons on stumps, because he has no hands or feet.

How could Peter Grey play in the major leagues with only one arm? How does Pete Strudwick run the Pike's Peak marathon with no feet? Why are some people like Peter Grey and Pete Strudwick able to overcome terrible adversity and obstacles to achieve greatness, while others, in spite of every advantage, turn their lives into a disaster? The answer is quite simple. Those who are successful in life have learned how to create an overpowering desire to succeed. No one ever attained a consistent pattern of sales success who didn't have a burning desire to succeed.

Henry J. Kaiser, the great American industrialist said, "What a man can imagine or conceive in his mind he can accomplish. Impossibles are possible as thinking men make them so." When the adversity of sales has you wondering why you chose this great profession, think about the story of the farmer and the mule, or ponder the challenges Bill Porter had to overcome to be the top sales person for Watkins Products, or consider the lives of Peter Grey and Pete Strucwick. If they can overcome their difficulties, what could you ever consider a challenge in sales?

A Challenging Economy Requires Sales People To Rise To The Challenge

One of my greatest frustrations with sales people revolves around the notion that sales performance is mysteriously tied to trends in the economy. In other words, when the economy is good sales are good. When the economy is bad sales are bad. Nothing could be further from the truth, yet sales results typically parallel the trends in the economy. Henry Ford is quoted as saying, “Whether you believe you can or believe you can’t, you’re right.” Sales people need to believe in themselves, not in what others think or believe. Let your competition believe that there will be fewer sales during a challenging economy and then you dig deeper and work harder than ever before. You will not be disappointed with your sales results.

A few years ago I was working with one of my clients who was a paving contractor. Times were difficult. It seemed there was not enough work to keep those in the industry busy and profitable. Several paving companies laid off crews, sold equipment and priced what work they could find at cost just to keep their remaining employees busy. My client remained incredibly busy and profitable during this difficult economic period. In order to handle the increased work load, they hired the paving crews laid off by their competition and purchased competitors equipment at auction for pennies on the dollar.

The work was not easy to find, and it was not found in the usual places when times were good, but it was there. These skilled and hard working sales people didn’t concede to a declining market, but found opportunity amidst difficulty. They had their best year ever while their competitors were experiencing their worst year ever. Their margins increased by eight percent and their total volume of work increased by more than two and a half times. I’m reminded of the poem entitled, “Now Let’s All Get Down To Work”.

Said the Little Red Rooster, “Believe me, things are tough,
Seems that worms are scarcer and I can’t find enough;
What’s become of all those fat ones is a mystery to me;
There were thousands through that rainy spell, but now where can they be?”

Then the Old Black Hen who heard him, didn’t grumble or complain—
She had gone through lots of dry spells, she had lived through floods and rain.
So she flew up on the grindstone, and she gave her claws a whet,
As she said, “I’ve never seen the time when there weren’t worms to get.”

She picked a new and undug spot; the earth was hard and firm.
The Little Rooster jeered, “New Ground! That’s no place for worms.”
The Old Black Hen just spread her feet¬—she dug both fast and free.
“I must go to the worms,” she said, “The worms won’t come to me.”

The Rooster vainly spent his day through habit, by the ways
Where fat round worms had passed in squads, back in the rainy days.
When nightfall found him supper less, he growled in accents rough,
“I’m hungry as a fowl can be. Conditions sure are tough.”

He turned then to the Old Black Hen, and said, “It’s worse with you.
For you’re not only hungry, but must be tired, too.
I rested while I watched for worms, so I feel fairly perk
But how are you, without worms too, and after all that work?”

The Old Black Hen hopped to her perch and dropped her eyes to sleep,
And murmured in a drowsy tone, “Young man, hear this and weep,
I’m full of worms and happy, for I’ve eaten like a pig.
The worms were there as always—but boy, I had to dig!”

Here are ten solid principles and ideas that sales people can apply to increase their sales in a challenging market.

1. Change your thinking. Believe that your sales can increase even when the market is declining.
2. Work harder than you have ever worked before. Difficult times require extreme effort.
3. Put in the time. Plan and schedule a full eight-hour sales day. That means eight hours finding and developing sales opportunities.
4. Set very specific daily, weekly and monthly goals with activities directly focused on achieving those goals.
5. Define your sales process and focus only on those specific activities that will generate sales. You don’t have time to do “stuff”.
6. Do not error in believing that you are getting one hundred percent of your current customers business. Make contacts at all levels and within all departments, groups, and subsidiaries to be certain that you are not leaving anything for your competitors.
7. Make a habit of telling everyone you meet what you do for a living. If they need your product or service then sell them. If they don’t, then ask for their help in introducing you to those who may need your products.
8. Contact every company or individual who has purchased from your company in the past ten years.
9. Ask every current customer for leads and referrals. Define for them precisely what you are looking for in a lead or referral. Everyone knows someone; don’t take “no” for an answer.
10. Review your performance and success daily and recommit yourself each day to following your plan, regardless of how difficult it may be. Remember, a challenging economy requires rising to the challenge.

Listening, The Key To Successful Sales

Effective listening skills can be applied to all of our interpersonal and business relationships. We will become more effective listeners as we practice at home, in our business dealings, and in our social circles. One of the greatest gifts we can give another is that of truly listening.

Listening is incompatible with being in a hurry, or with the fast paced world around us. Such careful listening requires that we, at least for the moment, place time on slow motion and suspend our own thoughts and needs. There are no shortcuts to effective listening.

Silence makes people uncomfortable. Yet, one of the most important listening skills is not interrupting pauses, or periods of silence. When a person pauses they continue to think about the challenge. When we respect these pauses, by not interrupting, we are in essence offering the person a psychological chair to sit on; it is a way of saying “We are not going to abandon you.”

Becoming a good listener requires avoiding premature conclusions. Our effectiveness as a listener is often lost if we solve the problem before the person we are listening to successfully draws out of themselves their hidden thoughts. When people are truly heard, they will often come to their own correct insights. The role of the listener is to help empty the reservoir of emotion, anger, stress, frustration and other feelings until the individual can see more clearly. The art of listening may require consciously fighting to keep an open mind and not judging the other person. The role of the listener is to help and to allow the other person to open the flood-gates of their feelings and beliefs and to express themselves verbally, maybe for the first time.

Life is a stage, and we are all actors. More than anything, we want to stand on that stage and act out our parts and speak our hearts. Becoming a good listener allows others to take the stage. When we don’t listen, the actors play to an empty audience and the words from the stage ring silent and unfulfilled.

There are many ways we can signal an interest in listening and learning more. One of the most typical is to simply say, “tell me more.” True listening requires allowing the other person to do most of the talking. Most people are far better talkers than they are listeners. Why? Because talking is easy and natural for most of us, and few of us have ever spent the time and effort to learn how to listen. In the words of Alfred Benjamin, “Genuine listening is hard work; there is little about it that is mechanical…. We hear with our ears, but we listen with our eyes and mind and heart and skin and guts as well.”

There seems to be a growing realization of the importance of solid listening and communication skills in business. After all, lack of attention and respectful listening can be costly, leading to mistakes, poor service, misaligned goals, wasted time and lack of teamwork. The act of listening is less important than how you listen. By listening in a way that demonstrates understanding and respect, you build rapport, and that is the basic foundation from which you can sell, manage and influence others. The overall best sales performers are people who listen. They diagnose people's inclinations and the logical content of their thoughts, needs and wants. They find out precisely what it will take to solve problems and then they act on what they've learned. You can’t sell unless you understand your customer’s problems.

Since most sales people talk far too much, and have never learned how to listen, here are seven concise steps to becoming a better listener. Apply these principles and watch your sales increase!

1. Give your full attention on the person who is speaking. Don't look out the window or at what else is going on in the room.
2. Make sure your mind is focused, too. It can be easy to let your mind wander if you think you know what the person is going to say next, but you might be wrong! If you feel your mind wandering, change the position of your body and try to concentrate on the speaker's words.
3. Let the speaker finish before you begin to talk. Speakers appreciate having the chance to say everything they would like to say without being interrupted. When you interrupt, it looks like you aren't listening, even if you really are.
4. Let yourself finish listening before you begin to speak! You can't really listen if you are busy thinking about what you want say next.
5. Listen for main ideas. The main ideas are the most important points the speaker wants to get across. They may be mentioned at the start or end of a talk, and repeated a number of times. Pay special attention to statements that begin with phrases such as "My point is..." or "The thing to remember is..."
6. Ask questions. If you are not sure you understand what the speaker has said, just ask. It is a good idea to repeat in your own words what the speaker said so that you can be sure your understanding is correct. For example, you might say, "When you said that no two zebras are alike, did you mean that the stripes are different on each one?"
7. Give feedback. Sit up straight and look directly at the speaker. Now and then, nod to show that you understand. At appropriate points you may also smile, frown, laugh, or be silent. These are all ways to let the speaker know that you are really listening. Remember, you listen with your face as well as your ears!

Appearance Dramatically Influences Sales Scuuess

The moment you set your eyes on someone, your mind makes evaluations and judgments with lightning speed. The same is true for buyers. They assess the sales person long before he opens his month to address them. Like it or not, your out¬ward appearance influences the buyer as well as your own attitude, confidence, self-image and sales performance.

The American public is very appearance oriented. Research has shown that 55% of what people believe about each other is based on their observation and interpretation of non-verbal signals. The University of Pennsylvania has done an enormous amount of research on the topic of appearance. Their results show conclusively that caring about your appearance has a profound impact on your professional, social, mental, and physical well being. People who were well dressed and well groomed were found to be better liked, thought to be more intelligent, successful and competent and made more money than their counterparts who were not concerned about appearance.

As a young boy of fourteen, I spent the summer working as a dishwasher in the coffee shop at Little America, Wyoming. One afternoon while I was working behind the dish washing counter with dishes piled over my head, a middle aged man dressed in cowboy clothes and looking like he had just slid out of the saddle, came into the kitchen and assumed a position in front of the mountain of dishes and started to help me with my work. With no other communication, I assumed from his appearance that he was unable to pay for his lunch, and had been directed to the kitchen sink to work for his meal. After an hour or so, we had the mountain of dishes reduced to a few plates and a handful of silverware. With his job done, he quickly left the kitchen through the back door. Within just a few moments of this cowboy’s departure I was swarmed by the kitchen staff asking if I was nervous working next to Earl Holding, the billionaire owner of Little American and Sinclair Oil.

Just like my experience with Earl Holding, the respect you receive when making a sales presentation is in direct proportion to your visual impression. If you are wearing clothes that are generally associated with leisure activities, you may be telling those who see you that you do not take your career seriously, and therefore are not committed to your work. By the same token, if you present yourself at a sales presentation wearing clothes that undercut your perceived effectiveness, personal skills, and professionalism, it will be hard for you to be taken seriously no matter how prepared and skilled you may be. Employers rarely make overt statements about acceptable dress codes to their employees. More often there is an unspoken rule that those who wish to climb the ladder of success will dress appropriately and those who don’t, won’t.

Several years ago when I first went to work as a junior sales executive for a Fortune 100 company, I took great interest in what the senior sales people in the company and the industry were wearing. I noticed within our office and customer base, the successful people all dressed alike. At first I wondered what happened to individuality, and if they were all lemmings, blindly following those in front of them. I soon realized that part of the success formula was based on perception and part of that perception was image. If we looked the part, it was believed we could act the part. If we could act the part, then we could be the part. My success was influenced by my willingness to dress the part.


Our appearance tells people how we feel about ourselves as well as how we feel about them. By dressing to convey the appropriate image you will gain a real edge over your competition. In fact, your overall appearance and presentation may even leave a more tangible impression than the words you say, since memory is rooted most strongly in pictures and impressions. At the very least, you should expect your words to be strongly influenced by your appearance.

The act of taking time to present an appropriate image before your presentation will add to your own sense of self-esteem and confidence. The safest look for both men and women in sales is traditional and conservative. The key for both is to dress for your audience. Looking confident in your dress and appearance will inspire others with the confidence necessary to include you in their buying decision. Remember, people buy from people they believe, like, and trust. Your overall appearance will help to instill these feelings in your prospects.

The correct appearance alone probably won’t get you the sale, but it will go a long way toward winning the attention of your prospects. When you know you look right, you can stop worrying about the impression your clothes make and concentrate on communicating your message. Much of what people believe about others is based on the perception of their appearance. When you dress and look appropriate you will be amazed at your sales success.

Sales Success Is Strongly Influenced By Habits

You have probably all heard the definition of insanity, “doing the same thing over and over again hoping for a different result. Habit is the reason you keep doing the same thing over and over again. Your actions are governed by your own unique set of habits. These patterns of behavior, both good and bad, are interrupted only with difficulty, due to the habitual nature of human beings. As people are presented with new ideas and techniques they are often frustrated by the difficulty associated with changing their long established habits.

I have assessed the sales habits and patterns of behavior of thousands of sales people in the past several years. Very few were successful in changing their behavior until they first made a mental commitment to change. When change becomes difficult sales people revert back to their old patterns of behavior unless they have mentally committed to the change. The mental commitment will keep them on task when the physical reality of change promotes reverting back to the old habit.

Replacing old bad habits with good new ones in difficult, but it is not impossible. The key to changing behavior is understanding and then applying the correct techniques. There are two main reasons people don’t change their behavior. First, the motivation to change is not compelling enough to endure the difficulty. Second, a mental commitment to change has not been made which commitment gives strength to stay the course during the difficult transition from one behavior to the next.

The cliché, “practice makes perfect,” applies to changing your long established ways of doing things. However, we need to better understand “practice”. Perfect practice makes perfect and the only place you can practice perfectly is in your mind. You need to see yourself using the new techniques or behavior mentally before you will ever commit to applying the behavior physically. If you can’t see yourself doing it, you will never stay with it long enough to change your behavior. The following story illustrates the perplexity associated with changing habits.

The renowned French Naturalist Jean-Henri Fabre, in an experiment with a group of processionary caterpillars was able to entice the group on to the rim of a very large flower pot. Processionary caterpillars move through pine trees in a long procession feeding on the needles. They derive their name from their habit of following a lead caterpillar, each with its eyes half closed and its head fitted snugly against the rear end of the preceding caterpillar.

In his experiment, Fabre succeeded in getting the lead caterpillar to connect up with the last one, creating a complete circle that moved around the pot in a never-ending procession. He thought that after a few circles of the pot, the caterpillars would discover their predicament or tire of their endless progression and move off in another direction. But they never varied their movements.

Through sheer force of habit, the caterpillars kept moving relentlessly around the pot at about the same pace for a period of seven days. They would have continued even longer if they had not stopped from sheer exhaustion and hunger. As part of the experiment, food had been placed close by in sight of the group, but because it was out of the path of the circle, they continued in their procession to what could have been their ultimate destruction.

In their procession around the pot, they were blindly following their instincts, habits, past experience, tradition, custom, precedent - the way they had always had done things. In reality, they got nowhere.

If sales people will embrace change and mentally commit to doing those activities that have been proven successful by thousands of top performers, they will find the success they are looking for. Habits are your constant companion. They can lead you to success or failure in your sales activities. Habits are completely at your command and will automatically perform most of your tasks. When your activities are governed by correct habits, tasks are completed quickly and correctly. Once you embrace a habit it will work for you automatically doing what you want done. Your positive habits are your greatest servant, while your negative behaviors will become your greatest obstacles. When you ultimately become the master of your positive behaviors you will find sales success beyond your wildest expectations. If you let your negative habits rule your actions, sales success will elude you forever.

Plan And Schedule Your Time To Achieve Sales Success

What I’m going to show you about time management is so bold, so revolutionary and absolutely mind boggling, that you’ll find it difficult to believe. Time is the most valuable commodity in the universe, and with this knowledge you will have more time to do those things you value most. This knowledge, when applied consistently, will put the world at your feet.

Time is a continuum, a constantly moving series of events, one right after the other. Time must be captured as it moves along this continuum for it cannot be slowed, stopped or saved. A moment of time not captured in the moment, is a moment lost forever. You can elect to use your time for anything you choose, time doesn’t care. You can use your time to create wealth, health, intellect, relationships, pleasure or nothing at all. The choice is yours; no one else really cares.

Here is the formula, the secret of time followed by all successful people. Having learned the secret, the choice is yours. Apply it to achieve your wildest dreams and ambitions, or just know about it and waste the opportunities of a lifetime. Isn’t it interesting that life is referred to as time! The formula is outlined in the following five (5) steps:

Step 1: Set aside a time and place each day to plan and schedule what you will accomplish that day. The best time and place to plan and schedule your day is a time and place that will not be interrupted by other activities, a time that can be utilized for planning on a consistent basis and a place that is free from distractions. As an example, before you leave the office (regardless of what time that might be each day), when you get up in the morning or before you leave the house, etc. The number one reason people don’t plan is that they don’t have time. If you don’t have time, you can always find it in your alarm clock.

Step 2: Having set aside the time to plan, ponder and list all the activities that need and should be done today. Open your mind and list all that you can imagine. Think of your daily routines, projects, clients, activities, demands, etc. Refer to the prior day and add to the list those activities not previously completed. Consider those things you want to do, those things that must be done, and include those tasks and activities that are part of your long term personal and business goals. Don’t forget to include those things that mean the most to you. If you get trapped into only considering the urgent activities you will never plan those activities necessary to achieve your personal dreams and goals.

Step 3: Once you have made your list for the day, prioritize the list to ensure that the most important activities are accomplished. “Chunk” your activities into groups by assigning them an A, B, C, or D ranking. Then prioritize all of you’re A’s by giving them a numeric ranking 1,2,3,etc. Make your numeric rankings consecutive through the A’s, B’s, C’s, etc. When you are done, you can simply follow the numbers beginning with number 1 through the end of your list and you will have a numeric ranking of importance.

Step 4: Determining what to do and having assigned a priority, the next step is to pre-determine how much time to spend completing each activity. A major cause of wasted time is spending more time on any single activity than is necessary. Completing a task is only half the effort. The other half of the effort is found in completing the task in the minimum amount of time required. If you don’t predetermine how much time an activity will take, it will easily take all the time there is. Go down your list and assign a reasonable amount of time to complete each task. If you don’t know how much time the task will take, guess.

Step 5: The next step is to move each activity into a time slot. The most important task does not need to be completed first, it just needs to be completed. The correct time slot to schedule any task is whatever you believe to be the right time. Once each task has been assigned a time slot, just follow the time and you will be doing what needs to be done. For some people it is easier to create blocks of time. For instance, eight o’clock till ten o’clock is a two-hour block of time. Within that block of time you can schedule several different activities. It may not matter what order they are completed so long as they are finished within the block of time. Firm appointments are always schedule at the agreed upon time. When assigning activities to a block of time, add a little extra time for interruptions and emergencies. As the day progresses you can gain a very clear picture of your accomplishments. There are eighteen thirty-minute time frames between eight o’clock and five o’clock. Your objective should be to fill each thirty-minute block of time with meaningful activities from your list. It isn’t enough to know how you spend your time, but, rather to pro-actively plan and schedule your time to achieve what you want. If you don’t control your time it will control you and time doesn’t care what it does.

When you follow this formula precisely and consistently you will have all the time necessary to achieve all that you desire. The choice is yours and by virtue of your choice you will determine your own success. There are only twenty-four hours in a day and nothing that you or I can do will ever change that. We have, however, an even greater power and that is the power to plan and schedule every minute of every day. Without exception, those sales people who achieve the greatest success in life have discovered, learned, and applied this formula.

There Is Great Value In Time Management

There is a saying that we have all heard, “If you want to get something done, ask a busy person to do it.” It also seems that those who produce the least amount of work are usually the ones who haven’t any time.

Research conducted by behavioral scientists regarding the success patterns of top sales people show that they are constantly on the go. Those people producing the most sales in every field of endeavor are the ones who have interwoven throughout all their sales activities, the driving theme to “work smarter not harder.”

One of the cardinal principles of successful sales people is to work according to a plan and to set priorities. The assessment of daily priorities is usually the first order of business each day—or the last order of business before they go home at night. Most also review their long-term priorities at least monthly. There is a constant need for top producers to screen out the unimportant or unproductive activities. Excellent sales people and savvy business professionals know what must be accomplished and binding personal commitments to achieve their goals, then they plan their time accordingly.

Profiles In Courage, a book written by John F. Kennedy, quotes young John Quincy Adams in a letter to his father. This letter illustrates his grasp of the important principle of planning and shows strength of character and wisdom far beyond his nine years of age. He writes:

“Mamma has a troublesome task to keep me studying. I owe I am ashamed of myself. I had but just entered the third volume of Rollin’s history but designed to have got half through it by this time. I am determined this week to be more diligent. I have set myself a stint to read the third volume half out...”

“I wish sir, you would give me in writing some instructions with regard to the use of my time, and advise me how to proportion my studies and play, and I will keep them by me and endeavor to follow them.”

What John Adams knew at an early age and what some adults never seem to learn, is that to really succeed in achieving important goals in life, you must carefully plan your activities and the time you allocate to them. Top sales people recognize that the “art of getting things done” is as important to their sales success as any other basic sales principle. Successful sales people have mastered this skill. Not being able to recognize the need for daily planning or not admitting you need improvement may be your biggest stumbling block to sales success.

E. T. Klassen, a former president of American Can Company, said that planning and the planning process is of itself a “driving force” to success. It forces you to determine where you are going and to explore all the alternative strategies in getting there. Planning forces you to evaluate and then choose the basic strategies you’ll use to attain your goals. It forces you to balance your resources against the opportunities you encounter along the way. Most importantly, it forces you to choose a system by which to judge your performance. Klassen has written:

“Few of us like to accept discipline. None of us like to feel hemmed in. But we must concede that the requirements of planning are the very same requirements that determine our success of failure in today’s business world. Guessing is out. Planning is in.”

A great American salesman, Michael Gore said the following concerning time:

“You won’t find it in your wallet, or your bank account. You can’t borrow it, you can’t work hard and earn more of it. And certainly, you can’t hoard it. In fact, all you can do with it is spend it.”

Time is a universal medium of exchange for success, available to all who would spend it wisely. Your sales success will be in part a direct result of how you manage this valuable, diminishing resource.

Top sales people like Gore are increasingly sensitive to their use of time. They know that through planning they can find at least one additional productive hour each working day. Through effective planning and improving your ability to concentrate on the important tasks at hand, you too can improve your sales success.

Managing Your Time Will Increase Your Sales

If you are to succeed in sales it is imperative that you do the important things first.
The oft-told story of efficiency expert Ivy Lee’s meeting with Charles Schwab, then President of Bethlehem Steel illustrates the importance of this principle.

In explaining his services, Lee told Schwab that with his program “you’ll know how to manage better.” Schwab’s quick retort was, “Good heavens, I’m not managing as well now as I know how to. We don’t need more knowing, but more doing. If you can give us something to pep us up to do the right things we already know that we should do, I will gladly listen to you and pay you anything in reason you ask.”

With that, Lee was told that Schwab had twenty minutes before he had to catch a train. Lee asked Schwab to take out a blank sheet of notepaper and in the next twenty minutes he would show Schwab how he could “step up his doing by at least fifty percent.” Basically, he told Schwab that he should write down the six most important tasks that he had to perform the next day and then number them in order of importance. Lee told him to “put this paper in your pocket, and first thing tomorrow morning look at item one and start working on it until it was finished. Then, tackle item two in the same way; then item three, and so on. Do this until quitting time. Don’t be concerned if you only finish one or two. You will be working on the most important ones. The others can wait. If you can’t finish them all by this method, you couldn’t have finished them by any other method and without some system such as this one, you’d probably not even have decided which one was the most important.”

“Do this every morning. After you have convinced yourself of the value of the system, have your men try it. Try it as long as you wish, and send me a check for what you think it is worth.”

“In a few weeks, Schwab sent Lee twenty-five thousand dollars with a letter telling him that the twenty minutes they had spent was most profitable. Over the ensuing years it has been said that this method was responsible for the growth and profitability of Bethlehem Steel.

Working at the one job at hand is as logical and effective today as it was in Schwab’s time. If you worry about all the other things you should be doing while you work at important sales tasks, you’ll only drain yourself of effectiveness. Forget the other tasks and concentrate until you have finished the one task and you will be astonished at how profitable your time can be spent. If you really want to get things done, you’d better begin planning for your success.
It is as easy as:

1) Defining and setting measurable goals and plans,
2) Working out definite timing and activities, and
3) Then concentrating on the essentials.

If you don’t know where you are going, you certainly will never get there. Working according to a plan and setting priorities is the key to successfully selling products and services. You must be able to manage your time and focus on those activities that will bring you closer to your goals and eliminate those that won’t. Your time is money and the more time you spend on effective activities, the more success you will see.

You Too Can Become The Greatest Sales Person In The World

If you want to become the greatest sales person in the world you need to apply the same principles he applied. Let me tell you about Joe Girard.

In his fifteen-year new car sales career, Joe Girard sold 13, 001 cars. He holds the Guinness World Record for being the world’s greatest salesman. In 1973 he sold 1,425 cars and in one month sold 174 cars, most new car sales people are lucky to sell four or five cars per month. How did he do it? He loved his customers. His thoughts and activities were focused on his customers, not himself. In telling his story he said, “when you bought a car from me you didn’t just get a car, you got me!”

He would do anything and everything to take care of his customers. He claimed that he would rather take care of an existing customer than sell another car. His focus was on his customers. People want to be treated well and to feel that someone really cares about them. When it came to customer service he would instantly take care of his customers. He would always tell his customers how much he appreciated them and then he would treat them with appreciation and respect. People returned the love that Joe showed them by returning year after year to buy cars from him, and by referring their friends and families to him.

People buy from people they believe, like and trust. Joe Girard proved this statement correct. He told his customers that he loved them and then treated them that way. Their needs became the focus of his attention, not his own needs. Follow the example of the greatest sales person in the world, and you too will become the greatest sales person.

Ten Great Ways to Find New Customers

Sales is one of the most difficult of all professions. However, it doesn’t have to be hard and painful. Here are ten ways to increase your customer base by working smarter instead of just working hard.

1. Tell everyone that you are a sales person and tell them what you sell.
2. Get into the habit of first giving referrals and then asking for referrals.
3. Become the voice of your industry, write articles about your products or services.
4. Actively participate in networking by joining the local chamber, networking groups, or Corporate Alliance.
5. Ask every one of your happy and satisfied customers for referrals.
6. Find new opportunities with your existing customers (other offices or divisions).
7. Write and distribute a newsletter about your company and products.
8. Look for opportunities to submit press releases.
9. Ask for product endorsements from your customers and then share them with new prospects.
   
10. When prospecting, focus on prospects that have the same characteristics as your very best customers.

Apply these ten simple techniques and your sales will increase significantly. Remember, it is not what we do, but what we do consistently that makes a difference.

In Sales It Is The Small Things That Count

Let me recount the following story in first person to illustrate the significance of paying attention to the seemingly small and insignificant details of sales.

“As a small boy I rode the range with the men, tending the cattle and helping with the round-up, I used to look forward to the "rest stop" under the wide spreading branches of a most beautiful tree on Ash Creek. Its leafy branches provided a haven of protection for the birds that made this magnificent tree their home. The cattle sought out its cool shade and the soft pulverized ground under it for their afternoon relaxation. And we thirsty cowboys always made a stop to get a cool drink from the canteen and to stretch our tired, cramped limbs for a few moments as we rested from the hot summer sun.

As we lay on the soft cool earth looking up into the tree, we saw high in one of the limbs a little sprig of mistletoe. It stood out in contrast from the grayer leafage of the tree and was not unattractive in its dark green dress with its little whitish berries. I imagined I could hear the gigantic tree saying to the little mistletoe, ‘Ha, little friend, you are welcome to stay with me. In my strength, I can easily spare you a little of my sap, which I create from the sun and air and the water under the creek bed. There is plenty for all, and you in your smallness can do me no harm!’

Years later when I was a man, I again came up Ash Creek, again driving cattle. Imagine my sadness to find what had been a beautiful tree, now dry and dead, its long jagged branches reaching high like the bony fingers of a skeleton. Not even an uninhabited bird nest graced its forks, no cattle lazed under its branches, no foliage covered its grim nakedness, and no welcome was extended to traveler or cowboy to take shelter under its nude wretchedness; already its limbs were being hacked away by woodcutters.

The infinitely beautiful tree of my youth was now the ugliest tree on Ash Creek.
Trying to identify the cause of the tree’s devastation, I noticed hanging from the limbs of the tree great clusters of mistletoe-the parasite of the tree, the translucent, glutinous berries perhaps had been carried by a bird or the wind. The stickiness of the berry served to attach it to the tree limb or host plant until germination was complete, the little sprout always turning toward the point of attachment.”

As I pondered this story, this thought came to me: How like the little mistletoe are the small, seemingly unimportant principles and skills of salesmanship that we might neglect. We become complacent and don’t do the little things thinking that they won’t have an impact on our sales success. Things like not planning our day today, or maybe not romancing on the proper cycle, or maybe neglecting prospect data sheets, or possibly not preparing a monthly goal sheet. It might be neglecting to prospect each day, or not asking for a referral. It is only a small thing, but what if procedures are followed only ninety percent, thinking close is good enough.

As small and uneventful as each of these neglected activities may seem, the ultimate consequence of complacency to our sales success could be as damaging as the small little sprout of mistletoe was to the beautifully magnificent tree on Ash Creek.

Sales Tip: Understanding How to Compete With the “Lowest Price” Mentality

We are all familiar with the quote, “The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten,” or we have at least experienced its reality. Buyers are always looking for the lowest price. They have been trained that their job is to buy at the lowest price. Their job performance is evaluated based on how effectively they buy at the lowest price. Let me explain how to overcome the low-price buying mentality.

You will never win every sale because some buyers or decision makers will never deviate from lowest price buying. They will never be persuaded that lowest price is not in their best interest. Let me share the following quote from John Ruskin. Read this quote carefully because it is profound.

“There is hardly anything in the world that someone cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man’s lawful prey. It’s unwise to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money...that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot...it can’t be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run; and if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better.”

Salespeople are their own worst enemy. They have trained buyers to focus on the lowest price by always offering a price lower than the competition. We hear these words from sales and marketing people all the time: “Guaranteed lowest price,” “Shop the competition and I will beat their price by 10 percent,” “I’ll beat any quote you have; I really want your business.” As salespeople we believe low price will win the sale and we have taught this concept to our customers. Lowest price can generate several unfavorable consequences such as low margins, poor quality, poor service and unhappy customers.

Here is the formula to deal with the buyer’s low-price mentality: Instead of offering a low price, offer value. Value is a term that encompasses but is not limited to quality, service, functionality, delivery, benefits, features, reputations of the manufacturer or seller, recognition or awards, current and past customers, your personal reputation or anything else that might be of value to the buyer. Remind the buyer of past purchases where the lowest price did not deliver the anticipated result. Rekindle the pain associated with a low price purchase gone bad. Ask them how much value they experienced in a low price purchase that arrived two weeks late, causing their manufacturing plant to shut down.

Salespeople need to re-train buyers to focus on value and not price. Over time buyers will come to understand that even when all things seem equal, including price, there is still a major difference between one product and the next, and that difference might boil down to just one thing: the salesperson. When the buyer focuses on price, the successful salesperson will sell value. Value is what the buyer truly wants.

Utah Pulse

How Effectively Do You Follow-Up?

The second greatest cause of lost sales is due to one fatal flaw in the sales process – POOR FOLLOW-UP! There are three reasons sales people don’t follow-up effectively: poor timing, poor technique and poor organization. Let me explain how professionals follow-up and how you can double your sales.

One of the most difficult decisions a sales person makes is when to follow-up. The story is told of a salesperson, who after the first meeting with a decision maker was told to follow-up in three weeks at which time a decision whether or not to buy would be make. The salesperson obediently followed the decision makers request and followed up precisely in three weeks only to be told that they had already purchased a couple of weeks earlier from someone else. The decision maker mentioned that he vaguely remembered talking to the sales person, but when the competitor presented his solution it seemed compelling so he made the purchase.

The salesperson confused and disappointed promised himself that he would never make that mistake again and determined that he would follow-up much sooner next time. That very day, the sales person met with another decision maker who also told the sales person to follow up in a few weeks. The sales person, now much more savvy than before, thought to himself, “I will follow-up next week so I won’t loose the sale to anyone else.” Sure enough, the next week the sales person was standing in front of a somewhat bewildered decision maker who said, “What are you doing here! I thought I told you to follow-up with me in a few weeks. I haven’t made up my mind yet, and please quit bothering me!” Now the sales person was really confused. It seemed regardless of what approach he took to following up with the sale he was wrong.

As sales people we want to know two things from the decision maker: Do you have any questions and have you made up your mind yet. Asking those two questions can be aggravating. We want to know the answers but we don’t want to seem pushy. The solution is not to ask, but to create an environment where the answers will be given. To do this we must have a reason to be in front of the decision maker and that reason is to present them with something of value that will help them in the decision making process. At the Business Performance Group, we call this something a “romance piece.” It is any information in a tangible form, designed to be left with the decision maker, which will provide a reason to be in front of them and to also give the decision maker additional information to make the correct buying decision. If the decision to purchase is going to take place within thirty days, the salesperson can follow-up as often as a couple of times per week using a romance piece.

Romancing the sale solves the problem of when to follow-up and provides a successful technique for being in front of the decision maker. This powerful technique will build rapport while at the same time providing useful information. Don’t leave the decision maker to make the buying decision without your frequent input. Romance the sales and watch your sales increase.

Do You Have A Sales Tool Kit?

Most sales people “wing-it”; they sell bare-handed instead of using the specific tools of sales. In construction, would you drive a screw without a screwdriver, or hammer a nail without a hammer? Would you use a hand saw when you could use a power saw? Let me explain what should be in your sales kit.

The purpose of a sales person is to find opportunities, discover pain, present the best solution to remove the pain and finally, to complete the sale. The sales tool kit is used to convincingly and accurately present the solution. Sales tools are used not only in the presentation phase of the sales process, but most importantly during the follow-up stage. Follow-up is the most important part of the process, and the time that sales tools can be used most effectively. These tools are used to help convince the prospect to make the correct decision.

We have all heard that a picture is worth a thousand words. If that is a true statement, then a sales kit should contain pictures to more effectively present the solution. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a sample of the product should be worth a million. Product samples should be part of the tool kit. Let the prospect see the sample, touch it and experience it. Letters of recommendation from happy satisfied customers should be part of the sales kit. No one will be more convincing than a customer who has had a positive experience using your products or services. These letters should be used to overcome potential objections and concerns.

Technical data should be part of the tool kit. Company information should also be included. Awards and special recognition are effective tools. Lists of high profile customers and high profile projects or applications of your product are also very effective tools. Your sales kit should include post cards to thank prospects for their time and to remind them of their hot points concerning your product. Every tool kit should include sales agreements. Your sales tool kit should include all the tools necessary to sell your particular product or service. The tools you include are limited only by your imagination. When you find a new or more effective tool, include it. You can never have too many tools in you sales tool kit. A tool has no value if you don’t have it when you need it. Always carry your tool kit with you and you’ll have greater sales success.

A Ten Most Wanted List Will Dramatically Increase Your Sales

If you really want to make more sales, create your own Ten Most Wanted List. Identify prospects or companies you want to sell, but have not had current success. Put them on your list. The list will create a focus and urgency you have not experienced before. Post the list where you can see it several times during the day. Your mind will go to work on strategies and plans that will allow you to be successful.

The FBI’s Ten Most Wanted program was implemented by J. Edgar Hoover on March 14, 1950. According to Eric Hickey’s Encyclopedia of Murder & Violent Crime, the average amount of time a fugitive spends on the Ten Most Wanted list before being captured is 314 days. Recently, a local fugitive wanted by the FBI for more than two years was apprehended after being on the list for 114 days. They knew that by putting him on the “List” he would soon be apprehended.

Several years ago I was relaxing on the beach in Hawaii after spending an invigorating morning swimming with sea turtles on the Waikoloa coast. I found myself engaged in conversation with a sales person from California who was involved in the heating and air conditioning industry. He was telling me about one of his competitors that had taken several of his key accounts. Obviously this sales person had become complacent with his account base, but this incident provided a major wake-up call. The salesman went on to tell me how in his anger, he researched his competitors clients, created a list of the ones he wanted, and proceeded over the next year to steal away eleven clients, almost every one of those on his list.

Over the years, my clients have effectively used a Ten Most Wanted List to focus on those prospects they really want to sell. If the FBI can capture fugitives on their list in 314 days on average, you should be able to close the sale with prospects on your list in just a matter of months.

Begin With The End In Sight

Sales people can begin with the end in sight through visualization or some other measurement tool that will put the end in perspective. Let me recount a story that will illustrate this principle:

In the early morning of July 4th, 1952, the California Coast was blanketed with fog. Twenty-one miles to the west on Catalina Island, a thirty-four year old woman waded into the water determined to be the very first woman to ever swim the distance from Catalina to the California Coast. Her name was Florence Chadwick. She was a seasoned distance swimmer with incredible stamina. She had already achieved recognition as the first women to swim the English Channel in both directions. As millions of people rooted for her successful swim, she walked into the numbing cold water and began to cut her way through the powerful waves to the California Coast.

As she swam the numbing cold temperature of the water became one of her great adversaries. The sharks that infested the waters were also adversaries. Several times during the course of the swim the people traveling in the boat alongside her had to take rifles and fire them into the water to scare away the sharks that were swimming with her. But her greatest adversary was the dense fog that enveloped her. She could barely see only a few feet in front of her as she swam.

Fifteen hours into her swim she asked to be taken out of the water. After they treated Florence for mild hypothermia they informed her that when she stopped she was less than one mile from the shore. In fact, she was almost at the point where the ocean current would have helped wash her in. She could have ridden the waves to the beach.

Florence told reporters, "If I had known how close I was, I wouldn’t have quit, if I could have only seen the shore. But when I looked up all I could see was fog and it didn’t look like I had made any progress at all. If I could have only seen the shore I could have made it."

Let me use this story as a metaphor relating to sales people and their ability to clearly visualize their goals and dreams. The importance of being able to look through the fog of discouragement, rejection, and just plain “bad days” can never be over stated. Just like Florence Chadwick, if you can’t see or visualize, or some how measure your achievement as you travel through the many “fogs of life” you may quit even though success is within your reach.

The Common Denominator of Sales Success

To quote Albert E. N. Gray, “The common denominator of success --- the secret of success of every man who has ever been successful --- lies in the fact that he formed the habit of doing things that failures don't like to do.”

This speech given to a group on insurance sales people nearly fifty years ago has forever changed my life. For some reason, I believed that successful people were successful because they worked hard, were lucky enough to have the stars align in their favor, and had a pre-disposition to thoroughly enjoy doing the things that failures didn’t want to do. Truth be known, successful sales people don’t necessary like to do the things that unsuccessful sales people are unwilling to do. However, they know that by doing certain things they will have success, and they have a strong enough purpose in their lives to drive them to do it.

Years ago when I started my sales training company I found myself making more that a hundred cold calls each day to business owners along the Wasatch front. It was difficult and discouraging work. It was not something that I would have chosen to do, but I knew that by suffering through the calls that I would eventually find those clients that would allow me to be successful. There were two things that drove me to do the things I didn’t like to do. First, the mortgage needed to be paid and I didn’t want my wife and children to suffer. Second, I wanted my business to be successful. I had a passion and a dream that I was unwilling to let die.

Here are three steps you can take to apply the common denominator of success in your life and to dramatically improve your sales:

1. Identify a purpose in your life so strong and so compelling that you will be willing to put forth an extraordinary effort in your sales activity to satisfy that purpose.
2. Identify those activities, even the ones you don’t enjoy, that are necessary for sales success.
3. Create the habit of doing those activities on a regular basis with your eyes clearly focused on your purpose.

Sales Effort vs Reward

All sales people should understand that their financial rewards are in direct proportion to their efforts. In other words, the harder you work the more money you will make. This concept is absolutely true! However, you don’t necessarily need to work twice as hard or twice as long to make twice as much money. Let me give you an example.

In the game of baseball, a player who averages 3 hits out of 12 at bats has what we call a 250 batting average or hits .250% of the time. A typical income for this player might be $1,000,000. Another baseball player who averages 4 hits out of 12 at bats has a 333 batting average or hits the ball safely .333% of the time. A typical income for this player might be $5,000,000. The difference in performance is one more hit out of twelve at bats, or an increase of 8.3%. However, the difference in income is four million dollars more.

Here is challenge for each of you: Determine what an 8% increase in effort and sales activity might be and then work that much harder for the next month. I can promise you that your sales commissions will increase significantly – far more than just eight percent.

Successful Sales People Visualize Their Success

For many years I have smiled as I have thought of the nickname for the state of Missouri – “The Show Me State”. Seeing is believing! No statement has ever been more true for sales people. People believe what they can clearly see. So what if you can’t clearly see your goals? If the goal is not something you can physically see or hold tangibly, you must be able to visualize it in your mind.

Cherie Carter-Scott said, “Ordinary people believe only in the possible. Extraordinary people visualize not what is possible or probable, but rather what is impossible. And by visualizing the impossible, they begin to see it as possible.” Sales people often limit their success by limiting their vision. Here are five simple steps that will double your sales through visualization:

1. Establish clearly definable goals.
2. Find a picture that represents your goal.
3. Visualize in your mind the realization of your goal.
4. Write a positive, present tense affirmation of achieving your goal.
5. Plan and schedule each day those activities that will make your goal become a reality.

Three Saboteurs To Sales Success

There are three main saboteurs to a sales person’s success First, the fear of failure. Second, complacency or the desire to retire before it is time. Third, an inadequate level of belief. Let’s discuss each one briefly and learn how to stand-up to their influence and conquer their effects.

A person’s fear of failure reduces their desire to take action, which promotes the temptation to quit, which in turn reduces the likelihood of failure. Successful people are those who never quit. Success is found not in never falling, but in rising each time you fall. Failures are caused by doing those things that don’t work. Discover those things that work and then do them consistently.

Complacency, or the desire to retire is brought on by experiencing a false sense success. When people become complacent in their sales activities they become bored. What is the solution? Constantly set realistic and achievable goals. Push yourself a little harder and challenge yourself to discover what is humanly possible.

Inadequate belief causes a person not to take action. Create a vision within yourself and see your accomplishments in your mind. Once you can envision success you will work to physically achieve that success. Discover what you believe is possible and then challenge yourself to accomplish it.

When you can stand up to these three saboteurs and deal with them head-on you will absolutely increase the level of your sales success.

Belief Is Necessary For Sales Success

The auto maker and industrialist, Henry Ford once said, “If you believe you can or believe you can’t, you’re right”. No statement was ever more true for a sales person. Belief in the validity of your products and services, your company, your industry, and most importantly – yourself, are essential for sales success. Belief creates desire and desire promotes action. Activity is the engine of sales. In order to be successful in sales you must develop a pattern of daily activity. Sales is a numbers game, and requires a certain amount of activity to achieve a specific result.

It is true that when sales skills are improved, more sales will be generated from the same amount of activity, but nothing will happen unless there is a belief great enough to cause the sales person to take action. Without exception, great sports coaches and athletes will all agree that success in the world of sports is as much a mental activity as it is physical. A sales person or an athlete will never achieve what they cannot believe. Get your head in the game of sales, believe in yourself and your ability to be successful. Read the following statement each day and watch your belief grow and your sales increase:

“WHATEVER I VIVIDLY IMAGINE,
ARDENTLY DESIRE,
SINCERELY BELIEVE
AND ENTHUSIASTICALLY ACT UPON,
MUST INEVITABLY COME TO PASS!”

There Are No Tricks Or Gimmicks In Porfessional Selling

We have all seen the advertisements for books offering Ninety-nine Tricks to Making Every Sale, or One Hundred Ways to Close Every Deal. Well, there are no tricks in professional sales! But there is one sure way to make all the sales possible and that way is by simply following the sales process and effectively applying the steps. You can’t ‘short-cut” the process and still be successful. Here are the steps:

1. Build Rapport – Spend time with each prospect to get to know them. People buy from people they believe, like and trust. Always to thinking RELATIONSHIP. A few moments of building relationships at the beginning of a sales meeting is far more effective than hours of time building relationships at the end.

2. Assess Needs – Generally people buy to meet needs. We must know what their needs are so we can present our products and services as a solution to their needs. We should encourage the prospect to be very specific in defining their needs.

3. Offer Solutions – Once we understand specifically the needs wants and desires of the prospect, we should be prepared to offer solutions to their needs. What we can give them a specific solution to a specific need we have a much greater likelihood of making the sale.

4. Remind them of the Benefits – All sales are emotional. We must remind the prospect of those “hot points” and benefits they expressed during the presentation. Focus on WIIFM (what’s in it for me). If the product or service can be directly focused on benefiting the buyer, the sale is more likely to be made.

5. Resolve their Concerns – No one will typically make a purchase if they have objections or concerns about the product. Ask for their concerns. Get them all out on the table. Work to resolve each one of their concerns.

6. Ask for the Sale – If we have successfully implemented the first five steps of the process, the prospect will often ask to buy. If they don’t ask us, then we need to ask them. Never assume if they wanted to buy that they will ask. Always ask. If the answer is no, then go back and clarify each step of the process.

Effectively selling your prospect is much easier than you think. Instead of learning 99 ways to close every sale, follow the six steps process and watch your sales grow.

What To Do When The Prospect Postpones The Buying Decision

Sales is a process not an event. When sales people follow the steps of the sales process they will find greater success. When a prospect postpones the buying decision or uses the terms “maybe” or “not now”, we must go back to basics and re-qualify the buyer. Never shortcut the process and never assume that they will buy. Here are the steps of qualifying a prospective buyer:

1. Are they the decision maker? Ask – “Who besides yourself will be responsible for making the decision to buy?”
   
2. Clarify that they have a budget for, or the ability to pay. They must have money or access to money to buy your products. Window shoppers don’t buy without money!
   
3. Determine their time frame for needing the product or service. Remember, find out when they need it to determine when they will need to buy it.
   
4. Discover their true motivation. What are their needs, wants and desires. Make sure you are offering the right solution for their specific need.
   
5. Clarify the prospects concerns regarding your product. No one will buy if they have unanswered questions or concerns. Get their concerns out on the table and resolve them.

Use these qualifying techniques and watch your sales increase.

Asking For The Sale

Many salespeople have a difficult time with one of the most logical steps in the sales process - asking for the decision. Studies suggest that in 63% of sales presentations the sales person doesn’t ask for the sale. The sales person assumes that the prospect will ask to buy if they are interested. Asking for the sale is the logical conclusion of the prior steps of the sales process.
These prior steps are (1) Build Rapport (2) Assess Needs (3) Present Solutions.

Asking is as simple as saying:

“May we get started?”
Or
“Did you want to order a case or take advantage of our five case discounts?”
Or
“Let’s get the paperwork out of the way now. Shall we?”
Or
“Will you want to include this special package of services as well?”
Or
“What do you think?”

Prospects expect you to ask them for their business. If you are timid or afraid to ask for the sale, they will rarely purchase your products or services. When we fail to ask for the business we lose the buying momentum created in every selling situation. The longer the time period between your presentation and the request for action, the greater the chance of losing the business altogether. Closing is both logical and easy, when you follow the consultative sales process.

A polished attorney never asks, “Do you think this is the correct approach:” or “Should we take this deposition?”
A professional accountant never says, “Do these figures look right to you?”
We expect a professional to say, “Here is what you need to do”. Remember, that you are also a professional. As sales professional, you need to develop the mind set that your prospects have respect for your ability as a “professional” to make a sound presentation on your company’s, products or service and assume that they will act on what you have discussed – just like other professionals.

Always ask for the business and your sales will increase significantly!!

Selling Is Pure And Simple Communications

The successful sales process suggests that the prospect remembers what we say and processes that information when making a decision to buy. Communication is 7% what we say (the words), 38% how we say it (the emotion), and 55% visual (what they see). Don’t forget to add the sizzle to your communications by using emotion and by creating a visual dimension. On average visual aids will raise the overall retention level from 28% to 55%. When people are physically involved with your product such as a demonstration, or holding it and using it, their retention level increases to a whopping 72%.

Our visual appearance to the prospect is as important as the product itself. The way we appear to the prospect can in and of itself determine if a sale will be made.

Follow these five principles and your sales are guaranteed to increase:

1. Create emotion with the words you speak.
2. Use visual aids in your presentations.
3. Always get the prospect physically involved.
4. Use demonstrations whenever possible.
5. Always dress appropriately.

Presentations Should Be A Dialogue Not A Monologue

Telling isn’t selling. If this statement is true, then what is selling? Selling is providing a solution to a problem that the prospect has revealed. The very best way to know the problem is to ask. Selling then is comprised of effective questioning and powerful listening.

In a sales presentation the sales person should only do about thirty percent of the talking and seventy percent of the listening. With each point made about your product or service, ask for the prospects response. Use phrases like, how does that sound? Will that work for you? Can you see the value in that? What do you think? With each question we are soliciting their response and creating a dialogue. When we are discussing the solution with the prospect we are moving comfortably towards the sale.

When a sales person tells a prospect anything, the prospect is evaluating the validity or truthfulness of that statement. When the sales person uses a question to encourage the prospect to reveal what he would have otherwise told the prospect, the prospect believes what he has said and the sales person does not have to sell the prospect on that point.

Practice this principle and watch your sales increase!