This sales article is directed primarily to those who sell products and services to businesses. There are two main avenues to increasing your sales. First, find more customers to buy your products. Second, encourage your current customers to buy more. In the first case, there is no guarantee that your sales will increase. You may have more customers, but they may not buy more. In the second case, if your customers buy more, you will sell more. How do you get them to buy more? They can increase their inventories or they can sell more to their customers. I believe that if your customers thought they could sell more, they would already be doing it.
Several years ago I had a client who was responsible for finding new agents to sell their financial services products. He was doing an excellent job in signing up agents to represent them. Every month he added dozens of new agents. Month after month, the number of agents increased dramatically and every month, sales remained about the same. All his efforts to recruit new agents were having a negligible effect on sales. We changed our focus. Think about it. What good is a customer that doesn’t buy? We put our focus on teaching the agents how to effectively sell the financial products. Sales started to go through the roof. Teaching your customers how to sell may possibly be the best thing you can do to increase your sales. When they sell more, you sell more!
Several weeks ago, I shared the concept of teaching customers how to sell, with one of my clients. For him, bringing on new dealers is a slow and deliberate process. We wanted to see his sales increase in the near term, but new dealers were a long-term proposition. The only option was to generate more sales with the current dealers. My client went to work teaching his current dealers how to sell. They were very open-minded and willing to learn. As they learned, they applied the techniques and skills they had been taught. One salesperson closed a sale he had been working on for a couple of years and stated that it was due to a sales principle he had just learned to apply correctly. My client will probably double his sales this year from teaching his customers how to improve their sales. They in turn, will remain loyal customers due to the impact the sales training has had on their sales performance and their subsequent commission checks.
I remember the oft-told saying, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”. You can have the same impact on your customers. Find a way to help them do the one thing that will have a profound impact on their bottom line profits. Teach them how to sell. We have been implementing a training program for the past couple of years at the Business Performance Group. It is called “Client Development.” The Client Development program was developed and written with the express purpose of teaching customers how to improve their sales. If you want to double your sales this year, teach your customers how to improve their sales. Bye the way, my client who taught his agents how to improve their sales, was rewarded by being made a partner in the financial services company.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Sales Training Can Be The Difference Between Success Or Failure
Every day I have the opportunity to interview salespeople to determine whether I want to spend time training them in the knowledge and skills of selling. I don’t want to waste their employer’s money if the salespeople are not committed to improving their skills, allowing them to produce more profit for their employer. I feel a deep commitment to produce a fabulous return on a business owner’s investment in sales training. I’m confident in the programs taught and trained at the Business Performance Group and I need to feel just as confident in the salespeople I work with.
I’m looking for a positive attitude and a desire to improve their situation. I’m looking for a person that wants more out of life and one that is willing to pay the price required for success. I’m looking for a salesperson who knows they can improve and is willing to work hard and apply new methods of achieving success. I’m looking for salespeople who have dreams and goals, people who want more out of life than they ever imagined possible. I’m looking for salespeople who are willing to move beyond their comfort zone and take a risk in doing things they have never done before in order to achieve their dreams. What are you willing to do in order to achieve your own dreams and goals?
I was speaking with a business owner the other day who asked me what he should do with his salespeople if after I interviewed them, I decided not to train them. My answer was simple and straightforward. I told him that I didn’t care what he did with them, that was his decision. Personally, I wouldn’t keep a salesperson who didn’t want to improve, unless I was satisfied with his or her performance. At that point I would have to decide if someone else could do better and if I was willing to sacrifice what I could achieve with someone else for what I was getting with my current salespeople. I believe that a salesperson who is given the opportunity to improve their performance, should capitalize on that opportunity. By not striving for improvement, they are telling their employer that they don’t care about the success of the company.
The world is full of mediocrity. It can be found in every facet of the workplace. Selling is no exception. Sales training is a seven billion dollar per year industry and yet most salespeople don’t take the initiative to improve their performance. I was talking to a good friend of mine who is a physician. He told me that he spends more than ten hours each week, learning and improving his skills to remain on the cutting edge, no pun intended, of his profession. Professionals in all areas spend time improving their skills to be at the top of their game. Many professions require a certain number of continuing education credits each year to maintain their accreditation or license to practice. What are you doing to improve your performance and to stay on top of your sales game?
Imagine what you could accomplish in the field of sales if you spent ten hours each week, learning and improving your skills. Most salespeople have no idea how good they can actually be at selling. When the economy is strong they have decent sales results and when the economy is struggling, like it has been for the past three years, their sales are down. They rationalize their performance based on the economy. I wouldn’t want my surgeon rationalizing my recovery just because he didn’t know the latest procedures and medical techniques. Salespeople, get your selves trained. Business owners, get your salespeople trained. In the past three years there have been many companies who have flourished while their competitors have closed their doors. The companies that have flourished trained their salespeople and the ones who closed their doors didn’t. Sales training is not a cost, but rather, an investment in the success of your company. It is not too late to begin. Those companies who provide programs for their salespeople will always out perform those that don’t and in this economy it might be the difference between achieving more success than you ever dreamed possible, or shutting your doors for the last time.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
The Rewards of Sales Success
You might think I’m sick and demented, but I’m sitting on the beach South of Cancun on the Mayan Riviera writing my sales article for this week. The Caribbean Ocean is crystal clear with a light blue and turquois color. The coral sand is shimmering white and the consistency of flour. The waiters, patrolling the beach, make sure I don’t go wanting for my favorite beverage. Life is great. To quote my good friend Marshal, “It doesn’t get any better than this.”
The week we will spend on the Mayan Riviera is an incentive trip for 23 of my clients, wives, significant others and employees. They have all worked hard, created excessive profits for their employers and earned this trip as a reward for their performance. I must admit, it is a bit distractive to take in this magnificent beauty and try to make sense of my thoughts while pounding the keys of my laptop.
Through his efforts to learn and practice improved sales skills, Jon from Robert Love Heating and Air Conditioning increased his performance by 151% over his previous years average. He told me the experience was life changing as he not only increased his income, raised his standard of living, but made some significant changes in his personal life. All of the principles that Jon learned can be applied in every aspect of his life. He has learned that when the correct principles are applied, he can accomplish.
Scott, with Wheeler Machinery, was reassigned to a different sales division within the company. In addition to learning a new product and service, he was enrolled in a year long sales training and coaching program. His was an ominous challenge to learn and apply both product knowledge as well as perfecting his sales skills. Scott was given a goal based on what his predecessors had achieved. After one year of training and coaching, Scott’s performance was 191% of his benchmark. He is enjoying this fabulous week with his wife and two daughters.
The temptation to jump up, run across the powdery beach and dive into the water is almost more than I can stand. That will be my reward when I complete this article.
Robert has spent his career in operations for the Halverson Company. Most of his time has been in the field, managing projects and people. After a career of hard physical labor, he was given the opportunity to manage the department and to generate sales. This past year he has learned that selling, even though it is vastly different from operations, is hard work. He was benchmarked against the performance of another employee who had been selling steel fabrication work for several years. Robert did not see results for several months, although he became a student of sales, learning and applying the principles and skills he was learning. He completed his first year with a 189% increase over his benchmark. His life will never be the same having learned new skills and demonstrating that through effort and discipline he can achieve more than he ever dreamed possible in his new career. Robert and his wife are enjoying a dream vacation all because of his outstanding performance. By the way, in the first three months of the new sales year, Robert has already achieved 70% of his new goal that was set at five times his previous goal.
Jon, Scott and Robert are my heroes. They have demonstrated what we have seen time and time again. When you work hard at applying the correct principles and skills of selling, you can accomplish goals that others can only dream of.
I’m enjoying a fabulous day on the beach with my wife, employees and clients. We all work hard and then we play hard. To say it is worth it, is an understatement. Sales is the greatest career in the world. It doesn’t get any better than this. I’ve got to run, I can’t resist the turquois water any longer.
The week we will spend on the Mayan Riviera is an incentive trip for 23 of my clients, wives, significant others and employees. They have all worked hard, created excessive profits for their employers and earned this trip as a reward for their performance. I must admit, it is a bit distractive to take in this magnificent beauty and try to make sense of my thoughts while pounding the keys of my laptop.
Through his efforts to learn and practice improved sales skills, Jon from Robert Love Heating and Air Conditioning increased his performance by 151% over his previous years average. He told me the experience was life changing as he not only increased his income, raised his standard of living, but made some significant changes in his personal life. All of the principles that Jon learned can be applied in every aspect of his life. He has learned that when the correct principles are applied, he can accomplish.
Scott, with Wheeler Machinery, was reassigned to a different sales division within the company. In addition to learning a new product and service, he was enrolled in a year long sales training and coaching program. His was an ominous challenge to learn and apply both product knowledge as well as perfecting his sales skills. Scott was given a goal based on what his predecessors had achieved. After one year of training and coaching, Scott’s performance was 191% of his benchmark. He is enjoying this fabulous week with his wife and two daughters.
The temptation to jump up, run across the powdery beach and dive into the water is almost more than I can stand. That will be my reward when I complete this article.
Robert has spent his career in operations for the Halverson Company. Most of his time has been in the field, managing projects and people. After a career of hard physical labor, he was given the opportunity to manage the department and to generate sales. This past year he has learned that selling, even though it is vastly different from operations, is hard work. He was benchmarked against the performance of another employee who had been selling steel fabrication work for several years. Robert did not see results for several months, although he became a student of sales, learning and applying the principles and skills he was learning. He completed his first year with a 189% increase over his benchmark. His life will never be the same having learned new skills and demonstrating that through effort and discipline he can achieve more than he ever dreamed possible in his new career. Robert and his wife are enjoying a dream vacation all because of his outstanding performance. By the way, in the first three months of the new sales year, Robert has already achieved 70% of his new goal that was set at five times his previous goal.
Jon, Scott and Robert are my heroes. They have demonstrated what we have seen time and time again. When you work hard at applying the correct principles and skills of selling, you can accomplish goals that others can only dream of.
I’m enjoying a fabulous day on the beach with my wife, employees and clients. We all work hard and then we play hard. To say it is worth it, is an understatement. Sales is the greatest career in the world. It doesn’t get any better than this. I’ve got to run, I can’t resist the turquois water any longer.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
10 Sales Myths
Since most salespeople do not have a formal education in selling, other than the schooling of experience and mentoring, they become fair game to believing myths, urban legends and partial truths. I have listed ten common myths accompanied by the true sales principles. In most cases, the myth and the truth are not far apart. However, the results of applying the true principle versus the myth are miles apart. Apply the true principles and enjoy a significant increase in your sales performance.
1. It is good to either be the first salesperson or the last to talk to a prospect. Some salespeople think that by being either the first thing on the prospect’s mind or the last thing on their mind gives them an advantage. It doesn’t really matter. The key to making a sale is to discover what the prospect really needs and then help them to achieve it. Build rapport and trust and then demonstrate that you really understand their needs. Present the right solution based on your knowledge and experience with a vast base of happy customers. This will put you in the best position to make the sale.
2. The key to sales success is found in hard work. Working hard is important to sales success, but you must be working hard doing the right things. If you aren’t doing what needs to be done, it doesn’t matter how hard you work. The most successful salespeople know their sales process and they work hard doing only those things that will bring them closer to making the sale. Just as motion is not necessarily progress, neither is working hard the solution to more sales. Working hard at doing the right things is the key to sales success.
3. Practice makes perfect. All of my early life, I believed that practice made perfect. Practice makes permanent! If you practice religiously doing something incorrectly, you will become extremely good at doing something incorrectly. If you want to become perfect at something, you must practice doing that thing perfectly. Repeat after me, “Perfect practice makes perfect.” Learn the correct sales principles and skills and then commit yourself to practicing them perfectly.
4. The one who speaks the most wins the sale. Nothing could be further from the truth. Telling is not selling and will never be the answer to more sales. The salesperson that engages the prospect and learns all they can about the needs, wants, desires, ambitions and dreams of the prospect will learn enough to make the sales. They key to selling is found in listening. The person who listens the most will know what to do in order to make the sale. You can’t talk and listen at the same time. If you can only do one, make it listening. Your sales will increase dramatically.
5. Getting thru the presentation without any objections is good. There is an ill-conceived notion that if the prospect doesn’t verbalize an objection or concern, then there must not be any. Not true! People don’t buy if they have concerns or objections and just because they don’t express them doesn’t mean they don’t have them. Objections and concerns are good. This is a sign of interest. Give the prospect an opportunity to express their concerns. Get them all out on the table so they can be understood and resolved. Talk about them. Resolve them and then make the sale. Ask the prospect to tell you their concerns. Ask the question, “Besides that, is there anything else?” Keep asking until they tell you there are no more concerns. The resolution of concerns creates a dialogue, and the dialogue is critical to closing the sale.
6. The customer is always right. Guess what? The customer is not always right. Sometimes the customer is very wrong. However, the customer will always be the customer and if you don’t treat them right, no matter how wrong they may be, you will never make the sale. Lead them and guide them to the right conclusion through diplomatic questioning. Never forget, without a customer, you are out of business.
7. Sell the prospect what they tell you they want. This one sounds good, but sounding good has nothing to do with the truth. A customer will never be happy if you sell them what they want. You will lose future opportunities to sell to them and you will lose potential referrals if you sell them what they want. The subtlety here is to sell them what they need. Very often the prospect will tell you what they want which isn’t what they need. After realizing that what you sold them is not what they needed, they will be unhappy and blame you completely. After all, you are the one who sold them. The prospect doesn’t care that you sold them what they asked for if it doesn’t solve their problem. Sell the prospect what they need or you will wish you had.
8. Telling is selling. Selling is the process of understanding the needs of the prospect and then helping them to achieve those needs. Listening is selling. By the way, listening is much more difficult than talking and delivers a more profitable result.
9. Great products sell themselves. I would be willing to venture that there are more incredible products that never gained approval from the buying public than there are incredible products that we all buy and use. Why? Great products don’t sell themselves; salespeople sell them. I don’t care how wonderful, unique or perfectly engineered your product might be. If you don’t present it as a solution to someone’s needs, they probably won’t buy it. From a salesperson’s point of view, it is an absolute advantage to have the best product or service within your industry. However, if you don’t sell it, no one will buy it.
10. The same salesperson can’t sell effectively in different industries. Every business wants to believe that their product is unique and special. Because of this thought, they believe a salesperson must be specialized with years of experience in an industry to be successful. Don’t flatter yourself with this narrow band of thought. Selling is Selling and the same principles apply regardless of product or industry. Selling is comprised of 40% sales skills, 40% attitude and 20% product knowledge. A salesperson that has excellent skills and a great attitude is capable of selling any product or service.
1. It is good to either be the first salesperson or the last to talk to a prospect. Some salespeople think that by being either the first thing on the prospect’s mind or the last thing on their mind gives them an advantage. It doesn’t really matter. The key to making a sale is to discover what the prospect really needs and then help them to achieve it. Build rapport and trust and then demonstrate that you really understand their needs. Present the right solution based on your knowledge and experience with a vast base of happy customers. This will put you in the best position to make the sale.
2. The key to sales success is found in hard work. Working hard is important to sales success, but you must be working hard doing the right things. If you aren’t doing what needs to be done, it doesn’t matter how hard you work. The most successful salespeople know their sales process and they work hard doing only those things that will bring them closer to making the sale. Just as motion is not necessarily progress, neither is working hard the solution to more sales. Working hard at doing the right things is the key to sales success.
3. Practice makes perfect. All of my early life, I believed that practice made perfect. Practice makes permanent! If you practice religiously doing something incorrectly, you will become extremely good at doing something incorrectly. If you want to become perfect at something, you must practice doing that thing perfectly. Repeat after me, “Perfect practice makes perfect.” Learn the correct sales principles and skills and then commit yourself to practicing them perfectly.
4. The one who speaks the most wins the sale. Nothing could be further from the truth. Telling is not selling and will never be the answer to more sales. The salesperson that engages the prospect and learns all they can about the needs, wants, desires, ambitions and dreams of the prospect will learn enough to make the sales. They key to selling is found in listening. The person who listens the most will know what to do in order to make the sale. You can’t talk and listen at the same time. If you can only do one, make it listening. Your sales will increase dramatically.
5. Getting thru the presentation without any objections is good. There is an ill-conceived notion that if the prospect doesn’t verbalize an objection or concern, then there must not be any. Not true! People don’t buy if they have concerns or objections and just because they don’t express them doesn’t mean they don’t have them. Objections and concerns are good. This is a sign of interest. Give the prospect an opportunity to express their concerns. Get them all out on the table so they can be understood and resolved. Talk about them. Resolve them and then make the sale. Ask the prospect to tell you their concerns. Ask the question, “Besides that, is there anything else?” Keep asking until they tell you there are no more concerns. The resolution of concerns creates a dialogue, and the dialogue is critical to closing the sale.
6. The customer is always right. Guess what? The customer is not always right. Sometimes the customer is very wrong. However, the customer will always be the customer and if you don’t treat them right, no matter how wrong they may be, you will never make the sale. Lead them and guide them to the right conclusion through diplomatic questioning. Never forget, without a customer, you are out of business.
7. Sell the prospect what they tell you they want. This one sounds good, but sounding good has nothing to do with the truth. A customer will never be happy if you sell them what they want. You will lose future opportunities to sell to them and you will lose potential referrals if you sell them what they want. The subtlety here is to sell them what they need. Very often the prospect will tell you what they want which isn’t what they need. After realizing that what you sold them is not what they needed, they will be unhappy and blame you completely. After all, you are the one who sold them. The prospect doesn’t care that you sold them what they asked for if it doesn’t solve their problem. Sell the prospect what they need or you will wish you had.
8. Telling is selling. Selling is the process of understanding the needs of the prospect and then helping them to achieve those needs. Listening is selling. By the way, listening is much more difficult than talking and delivers a more profitable result.
9. Great products sell themselves. I would be willing to venture that there are more incredible products that never gained approval from the buying public than there are incredible products that we all buy and use. Why? Great products don’t sell themselves; salespeople sell them. I don’t care how wonderful, unique or perfectly engineered your product might be. If you don’t present it as a solution to someone’s needs, they probably won’t buy it. From a salesperson’s point of view, it is an absolute advantage to have the best product or service within your industry. However, if you don’t sell it, no one will buy it.
10. The same salesperson can’t sell effectively in different industries. Every business wants to believe that their product is unique and special. Because of this thought, they believe a salesperson must be specialized with years of experience in an industry to be successful. Don’t flatter yourself with this narrow band of thought. Selling is Selling and the same principles apply regardless of product or industry. Selling is comprised of 40% sales skills, 40% attitude and 20% product knowledge. A salesperson that has excellent skills and a great attitude is capable of selling any product or service.
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