Don't Believe For One Moment That Your Salespeople Are Even Close to Being the Best They Can Become

As business owners we have been gradually lulled into believing that the performance of our salespeople is satisfactory.  After all, if our sales people could do better, they would.  Wouldn’t they?  Salespeople come and go, some staying longer than others, some better than others.  We tend to judge current and future performance based on past results.  Bottom line, I’ve never met a business owner who truly understood the potential for sales of his products or services.  In good years, salespeople are busy taking orders and in bad years they are complaining that no one can sell in the current market.  In reality, the salespeople had nothing to do with the level of sales of the product in either the best sales year or the worst sales year.  In both cases they were just taking orders.

There is a formula for sales growth and increased profitability.  Unfortunately, business profits are held captive by mediocre salespeople and by management that naively believes the excuses offered by their sales department.  You can’t really blame either side.  The salespeople don’t know that they can sell more and management has never seen evidence that performance could be better.  Management has been conditioned by the sales performance they see day in and day out and believe they are getting all there is to get.  I’ve never met a salesperson that couldn’t double their sales within twelve months.  I’ve known some salespeople who doubled their sales every year for several years in a row.  Here is the three-step formula.

Desire:  No person will ever change their level of performance unless they have a compelling desire to do so.  They’ve “gotta wanna” do it.  There must be some external situation that causes them to take an internal evaluation of their situation, which in turn causes a desire for change.  We often refer to this as internal motivation.  We want something different than our current situation and the purpose has enough meaning in our soul that we are willing to do whatever is necessary to bring that situation to fruition.

Belief:  You must believe that you can achieve that internal desire.  You must believe in your ability to do the things necessary to acquire the desired result.  You must be able to objectively review what you have achieved in the past, consider what others have done and then visualize yourself reaching that new level of accomplishment.  Every salesperson has experienced a best month ever.  If you achieved it once, why can’t you do it again?  If you achieved that level which represents your best month ever for six out of twelve months, you would probably double your sales for the year.  If you don’t believe, you will never take action.  Looking at what you have done in the past can help you believe what you can do in the future.

Education:  Top salespeople are educated in selling.  Unfortunately there are not a lot of top salespeople.  Maybe 5% of all the salespeople in the world fit into this category.  Most salespeople are totally uneducated in selling and worse than being uneducated; they don’t believe it would make a difference in their performance.  These average, mediocre salespeople look around at other salespeople who are just like them and see no need to do anything different.  After all, they are like every other salesperson out there.  Management is just as much to blame.  If they believed that sales education would make a difference, they would require it.  If management had the slightest clue as to the profits their companies could generate from trained salespeople, they would make sales training a requirement for employment!  Salespeople do what they do because they have always done it that way and that is what they have seen other salespeople do.  As an industry, we have perpetuated poor habits and practices.  Doing the same thing over and over again makes permanent, it doesn’t make perfect.  Doing the right things over and over again makes perfect.  There are too few salespeople consistently doing the right things.  There is no investment that a company can make, that will generate a larger potential bottom-line profit than training salespeople.  Make this year the year that you take action as a salesperson or management and get your salespeople trained.

We Have All Been Given A Great Gift - TIME

Everything we do in life relates to both time and activity.  We have a choice every day regarding these two precious gifts.  Time comes with birth and requires no effort, whereas, activity is born of knowledge and belief.  Time continues regardless of what we do, but we do have a choice as to how we use our time.  Activity is truly a function of what we believe and our willingness to take action on those beliefs.  You might be asking yourself, “What does this have to do with sales?”  It has everything to do with sales.  These two elements, time and activity, combined with knowledge comprise the three raw elements of sales performance.  How well are you using these basic materials in your sales career?

Time is a continuum without beginning or end.  It just keeps moving and we have a choice every day how we use our time.  We can use it for value or we can use it for waste.  Time doesn’t care, but we should.  Time is a gift given to each of us.  With this gift of time, we can create wealth.  However, wealth is created as a result of the activities with which we engage ourselves.  In his core teachings, Stephen Covey introduced the four quadrants of time.  Everything we do in our lives falls into these four quadrants.  They are described as “important and urgent”, “important and not urgent”, “not important and urgent” and “not important and not urgent”.  Most people spend their lives working in the quadrant labeled important and urgent.  These people are doing important things, however, they are under extreme pressure to get things done now because they are urgent.  Your best effort will never be achieved working in this quadrant.  This quadrant of time represents perfectly the statement, “Too much to do and too little time to do it”.

The most successful people and particularly salespeople spend the majority of their lives in the quadrant labeled “important but not urgent”.  This is where your best efforts are achieved.  This is where you have time to deal with emergencies and unplanned events.  This is where you can actually work on the achievement of your long-term goals and feel as though you have control of your life.  This quadrant of time will free you of stress, which is damaging to both your health and your sales performance.  If you want to manage both time and activity in your life in order to reap the maximum reward, live and work in the quadrant labeled “important but not urgent”.  Here are a few ideas to help you focus your time and activity into this quadrant.

1.     Plan what you want to accomplish every day

2.     Schedule time for each activity

3.     Determine how much time you will spend on each activity

4.     Take action, don’t put off until tomorrow what can be done today

5.     Prioritize events in your life

6.     Consider the value of your time and commit to using it wisely

7.     Set goals to keep you focused on the important things in your life

8.     Find purpose in your life and then live to achieve your purpose

9.     Resist the natural temptation to be lazy

Take time to ponder and enjoy your new level of achievement

Dare To Dream, Risk Failure, Challenge “The Norm” And Overcome Mediocrity

By definition and experience, most salespeople are average.  Salespeople are average, not by genetics or design, but by nature.  They are lazy, lack adventure and are most comfortable “blending in” without making waves or bringing attention to themselves.  Most salespeople have no idea what they are capable of achieving and therefore, achieve far less in their careers than they are capable of achieving. Salespeople go through life reacting to their circumstances instead of taking a proactive approach to achieve the circumstances they want.  Salespeople are passive because they don’t understand that they have the right to choose for themselves what they want in life.  They lack vision beyond their own situation.

In order to reach beyond your current condition you must believe that there is something better and you must have a burning desire to achieve it.  It doesn’t matter what “IT” is so long as it is beyond your current circumstances.  The human spirit grows by reaching beyond your current situation.  Believing that there is something more in life and your willingness to take the efforts to achieve it, are essential to discovering your true capacity.  A great journey begins with the first step.  Once you believe, you must take action.  When you take action, you are moving outside of your comfort zone and for the first time in your life, you will experience the exhilarating feeling of achieving something new, different, exciting and rewarding.

My father was a great role model.  He not only led by example, but challenged me to dream and reach beyond my own experience and circumstance.  He believed in me and encouraged me constantly to reach for the stars.  I believed him when he said, “There is nothing in life that you can’t achieve if you want it badly enough and are willing to spend the time and effort necessary to achieve it.”  So, what do you want to achieve as a salesperson and what actions are you willing to take to achieve it?  Determining what you want in life is paramount to achieving it.  Overcoming mediocrity begins with setting goals.  Here is a list of the ten steps of goal setting that will allow you to achieve your dreams, reach beyond your current situation and fulfill your true destiny.

Step #1:  Choose goals that excite you.  Nothing is so motivating as a goal that unleashes passion.  Too often salespeople take a passive approach to goal setting and find themselves pursuing goals that they don’t really care about.  Once you have selected your goal find a picture.  We are all visual and nothing is so convincing as a picture.  Psychologists tell us that a picture is worth a thousand words.  Find a picture that represents the achievement of your goal and look at it daily.

Step #2:  Determine if the goal you have selected is one that is of value to you and your personal success.  Review the positive aspects of achieving your goal and then evaluate the negative aspects of reaching your goal.  Then take the opposite view and review the positive aspects of not pursuing that goal and then evaluate the negative aspects of not achieving the goal.  You want to make sure that the goal has value before you commit time and effort towards its achievement.

Step #3:  Once you have determined that the goal is in harmony with your objectives and you are committed to the time and effort to achieve it, write a positive, present tense affirmation relating to the achievement of the goal.  Write down the names of those people that inspire you and would be proud of your achievement.  Write down the names of a few people that might not believe you could reach your goal and focus on proving them wrong.  Finally, tell those that you are close to about your goal and give them periodic updates on your progress.

Step #4:  Without a “time frame” for completion, a goal is just a wish.  Determine a realistic completion date and work towards completing the goal by that date.  Remember, Someday is not a real day.  Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc, but never Someday.  Someday is another word for never.

Step #5:  Goals must be achievable, realistic and challenging.  It is far better to aim a little bit lower and achieve the goal than to aim too high and fall short, even if in both cases the same result is achieved.  In the first case you were successful.  In the latter, you failed even though the results were the same.  Don’t program your mind for failure.  Once the goal has been achieved, set a super goal.  A super goal represents that “little bit more” you can achieve after having reached your goal.

Step #6:  Lack of determining the steps necessary to achieve a goal is the major reason for failure.  You have all heard that the way you eat an elephant is one bite at a time.  The same is true with achieving goals.  Once you have determined your goal, break it into small steps.  Give each step a time frame and then move forward one step at a time until you have achieved your goal.

Step #7:  Just because you have set a goal doesn’t mean you are capable of achieving it without the proper training or education.  Make learning and training part of the goal achievement process.  Consult those who have previously accomplished your goal or something similar.  Take advantage of the knowledge and wisdom of others to achieve your goals.

Step #8:  Plan time each day for the achievement of your goals.  Too often people become so focused on the day-to-day urgencies associated with their employment that they forget to plan time to accomplish the specific steps of their goals.  Without proper daily planning you will never find the time to reach your goals.

Step #9:  Create a structure of accountability relating to your goal.  It is not good enough to just be accountable to yourself.  Involve family, friends, co-workers and anyone else you feel comfortable with in the steps and achievement of your goals.  You will find strength and courage when you involve others.  A definition of courage is “doing what you say you will do even when the emotions of the moment are past”.

Step #10:  Goals are achieved mentally before they are ever achieved physically.  The world of sports is a very good analogy for winning first in your mind and then on the field of play.  Envision yourself achieving your goal and then your physical actions will follow.  In the Law of Success, Napoleon Hill’s first book, he describes the insight he gained from his research into the power of goal setting.  He said, “Any definite chief aim that is deliberately fixed in the mind and held there with determination to realize it, finally saturates the entire subconscious mind until it automatically influences the physical action of the body toward the attainment of the purpose”.

Sometimes the Best Sales Advice is the Same Advice

Several years ago I worked for an organization that was very goal focused.  At the beginning of each year we would anxiously await the new corporate goals and eagerly focus our efforts on their achievement.  One year we received four goals very broad in scope.  There were many avenues of potential achievement within each of the goals.  As a team we worked hard all year long in pursuit of the four goals.  With the arrival of the New Year we were again anxious to learn of our new goals.  As we sat in silent anticipation, I heard an unexpected declaration for our goals:  “We will continue with the same goals as last year until substantial progress has be reached!”  We had made great strides in our performance, but sometimes continuing to make progress on excellent goals is more effective than coming up with new ones.  I feel the same way about writing new sales advice to begin this new sales year.  The article I wrote the first week of January last year is as meaningful now as it was then.  We all need to read it again and apply the principles this year, just as we did last year and continue, “until substantial progress has been reached!”

Making This Sales Year Better Than Last

With the arrival of the New Year you might ask yourself, “What will be different this year in my sales from last?”  To that question may I appropriately answer with the response, “Nothing!” unless you are willing to make some changes in your life.  One year will pretty much mirror the last unless you alter your activities and performance.  Many salespeople choose a career in sales because it provides an easy income with little preparation, minimal discipline and maximum workplace freedom.  Let me make a few suggestions of some changes that will dramatically improve your sales during this New Year.

Decide What You Want – The majority of all people in this world have no idea what they really want in life.  They get up every morning, they do “stuff” and they go to bed at night.  Their actions are dictated by the demands of the current situation.  They are much like a leaf in the wind.  They go where the wind blows taking no effort to direct their course.  What do you want to achieve this year in sales?  What amount of money do you want to earn?  What things do you want to buy?  Where do you want to vacation?  Don’t just settle for whatever happens, you decide what you want and then do what it takes to achieve it.  You have the right to want something and you have the ability to achieve it.  It may not be easy, but you have the potential to achieve your dreams.  I love this saying.  I wish I knew its origin.  “Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe and enthusiastically act upon must inevitably come to pass.”  Commit that saying to memory and live each day to fulfill its meaning.

Become Goal Oriented and Goal Focused

Having decided what you want in your life, set a goal to achieve it.  Goals are specific objectives you want to achieve.  Goals must be time specific.  Goals must be broken down into detailed steps of action that culminate in the achievement of the goal.  Goals must be something that you want and are willing to put forth the required time and effort.  It is through the achievement of goals that individuals become great and experience all of the joy and satisfaction that life has to offer.  Salespeople become successful through the regular establishment and achievement of goals.  Goal setting is the only way you can monitor your activities and calculate your success.  Goal setting allows you to keep score while motivating you when times are tough.

Develop A Plan – Success does not come as the result of a series of random events, but as the result of executing the steps of a specifically designed set of actions.  Developing and following a plan of action will keep you focused on doing the right activities at the right time for the right reason in the specified amount of time to achieve the right result.  Sales success is not found in just being busy or in doing a lot of stuff.  Sales success always begins with a plan and concludes with properly executing the plan.  One of my favorite quotes, attributed to Lavelle Edwards, the legendary football coach at BYU says, “If you see a man on top of a mountain, he didn’t just fall there.”  Successful salespeople are successful because they have a plan and by following their plan they find success.  Nothing is quite so motivating as achieving a well thought out plan.

Plan, Schedule and Manage Your Time – Nothing in this world has greater value than time.  Time is the mother of all success and ultimately of all life.  Your ability to control your time is your ability to achieve success.  Selling is nothing more than a well-orchestrated performance involving time, activity and money.  If you cannot effectively manage your time you will never achieve sales success.  Several years ago I was working with a Dentist trying to improve the profitability of his practice.  He was having difficulty paying his bills and had questioned his decision to become a Dentist based on his financial return.  One of the key elements I evaluated was his use of time relating to the number of patients he saw each day.  He was regularly seeing eight patients per day.  There was time to see more but he didn’t want to rush or feel the stress of a larger patient load.  After conducting an in depth evaluation of his practice and looking specifically at time, activity and money, I concluded that by seeing just one more patient each day he could increase his “bottom line income” by three thousand dollars per month.  You can’t create more time but you can do a much better job in planning, scheduling and managing the time you do have.  I have clients that have increased their income ten times by achieving more with the same amount of time.

Take Action – Nothing happens until you do something.  You must become physically engaged if you want to have sales success.  Sales increases do not happen because you think about it and talk about it.  Increases happen as the result of doing something about it.  What actions should you be taking?  Here are just a few ideas that all successful salespeople implement daily.

1.     Get up early

2.     Be to work on time

3.     Prospect

4.     Be in front of decision makers

5.     Prepare quotes or proposals

6.     Ask for referrals

7.     Look for additional opportunities with existing customers

8.     Plan and schedule your time

9.     Believe in yourself

10.  Be passionate about selling

Be resolute in incorporating these changes into your daily activities and this year will be the most successful year of your life.