Great sales people all have a few things in common. 1. They have a plan for how they will create sales. 2. They always see success instead of failure in their selling activities. 3. They take ACTION on new ideas, methods and processes they learn instead of waiting for a better time to make the improvement. I tapped the mind of several top sales thinkers, trainers and coaches I know for their perspective. Heres what they have to say. Jeffrie Story of Unleash Your Sales DNA, turns hidden sales potential into money. She is one of the top call reluctance experts in the corporate environment today. Jeffrie shares the following: In my experience through coaching, training, and my own selling, the best advice is to get out in the market! "Visibility and contact initiation are critical. In fact, the scientists at Behavioral Sciences Research Press have discovered the overwhelming key to success: the number of sales contacts initiated with prospective buyers on a consistent basis. Well, thats not news, is it? Salespeople all say they know about the numbers game, but they dont internalize it at an emotional level, or relate it to their goals. When we go fishing, we dont put emotion into how many times throw our line out we throw it out consistently and count the fish we catch. By internalizing the numbers game, doubts, fears and disappointment disappear, giving salespeople the motivation to keep prospecting. And if they keep learning during this prospecting phase, their skills improve too! Sharon Drew Morgen, of Morgen Facilitation, is a new thought expert on sales. Her client list reads like a Whos Who of the top companies in the world. Sharon Drew offers us the following ideas to use right now to increase sales performance: I believe our sales take longer than necessary because of the time it takes buyers to manage all of the decisions they need to manage internally to get the necessary buy-in and acceptance. If sellers concentrate on helping buyers make buying decisions, rather than placing a product, buyers will not only make much quicker decisions, but they will meld the sellers product into the solution. Here are a few tips Sharon Drew recommends: 1. Always announce its a sales call and ask if its a good time to speak. This will ensure the buyer understands the seller is being honest and respectful. 2. Recognize your job is to support the buyer in designing their best solution and note it will require buy-in from all of the people and rules that created the problem to begin with. 3. Use the first part of your conversation to help buyers recognize their current situation: why havent they solved the problem until now? What would stop them from resolving it now? What would need to change for them to be able to create a solution now? Remember that buyers only buy when they have all of their own answers and information doesnt teach them how to decide. Help them manage their change issues first. They will make your product part of their solution. You wont have to sell anything. Sharon Drew also notes, Whats so interesting is that sales actually creates its own problems and results: lengthened sales cycles, objections, closing problems, etc. For some reason we have never questioned the model itself - just the results. Sales people have always assumed sales was about placing product rather than supporting the decision. David Hepburn, Master Sales Trainer for the Sandler Institute, talks about the sales persons plan. Here are his ideas. The usual 3 steps to sales that most people follows are: 1. Small talk 2. Features and benefits 3. Close When the client balks, the salesperson will go back to #2 and "throw up" some more features and benefits and then try to "close" again and again and again. I personally found that to be extremely hard work. The Sandler Way has taught me that I need let the client do all the hard work. (I was getting to many gray hairs to keep doing it the old way) Here are the steps to follow: 1. Bond and Rapport 2. Upfront contracts, explain what will transpire 3. Pain, find out where it hurts 4. Budget, bring it up as soon as possible to help qualify 5. Decision, this is really a review of the upfront contract, their pain and the budget. 6. Fulfillment of the sale 7. Post Sell, make sure buyer's remorse will not lose a sale later on Remember, almost none of us grew up telling our parents that we were going to be "Salespeople." Most people just fell into it; giving us yet another reason for proper training. How You Can Change Your Sales Outlook and Increase Your Effectiveness. 1. Have a plan for how YOU will create sales consistently 2. Increase your sales skills, and then practice what you have learned until you master it. Then learn some more, practice it until you master it and learn some more. Repeat this pattern for the rest of your life. 3. Initiate contact frequently, with people who can buy your offer to increase sales. 4. Learn how to manage the buyer's decision making process and sell with minimal resistance. 5. Have a plan of ACTION for every sales call, write it down and follow it consistently. These are the secret ACTIONS of top sales performers and the people who make them great. Take one of these ideas and use it today. Repeat tomorrow, and the next day. Growth only happens when you step out of your comfort zone and take action on great new ideas that you learn. |
