Sales Team Management

Check those fingers walking

2007-12-18T12:34:00.001+09:00

I thought I covered all the bases but I received a great email from Jenny Cartwright who is, in my opinion, Australia's best Telephone Techniques coach. Jenny says because everyone else's given up... you will have it all to your self in the next few days until Christmas day.

Here is what she is advising you to do:

Talk to the customer about their company's plans for next year. Discuss how you can assist them with those and become a part of them. Call your "A" customers first (that is the 20% of customers that give you the most business). Start with "My goal next year is to help you as much as I can. In order to be able to do that, may I ask ... " (then proceed with asking them open-ended questions begining with what, why, where, when, who, which, how), to find out what they are planning for next year. This will give you clues how to comply with their needs.

Tell them what new things you have coming up next year that they might like to include in their own strategies. Tell them now so you can remind them in an email early next year.

Crow, Rabbit and Happy Fox!

2007-12-13T20:58:00.000+09:00

A crow was sitting on a tree, doing nothing all day. A rabbit asked him, "Can I also sit like you and do nothing all day long?" The crow answered: "Sure, why not." So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the crow, and rested. A fox jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Moral of the story: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very high up

For more light hearted corporate advice: www.bobpritchard.com

Robert Ringers Thoughts

2007-08-25T00:30:00.000+08:00

Robert Ringer, the best selling author of A Voice of Sanity in an Insane World comments about worrying about stuff you can't change:

Exerting mental energy to worry about the inevitable is illogical. If something is truly inevitable, there’s nothing you can do about it … and if there’s nothing you can do about it, what’s the point in worrying?

Just make certain that you don’t cavalierly apply the term inevitable to a situation that doesn’t warrant it. As I pointed out, very few things in life are inevitable, and only one — death — is 100 percent certain. As Sinatra put it, death is “a pain in the ass,” so who wants to spend time thinking about it?

A better idea is to invest your mental and physical energy in thinking about how to be the best parent you can possibly be, the best son or daughter you can possibly be, the best sibling you can possibly be, the best friend you can possibly be, the best employee or employer you can possibly be, and the best overall person you can possibly be. All of which comprises a very tall order. But to the extent we fill that order on a daily basis, that other little issue we worry so much about — financial success — somehow works itself out without our having to fret and stew about it.

Getting Rid of Self Limiting Beliefs

2007-08-09T15:32:00.000+08:00

It is your self limiting beliefs that pull you down. Disapproving your actual capabilities is the main culprit of mediocre performance. One effective way to overcome this is “Just Do It” and watch the result after that.

Have you ever think that you can never succeed in telemarketing? Why not reframe your mind that the person at the other end of the line is going to say Yes. And just pick up the phone and call? You will be fascinated to find that it is not difficult after all. The law of attraction says that focusing your mind will attract the intended result.

Create Positive Expectation Mindset

Create the mindset that your clients love to talk to you. Think of what they are going to benefit from your visit instead of wasting their time on listening to you. Here’s the secret: always expect positive outcome from the clients. Expect that the client is going to benefit from what you have to offer. Send out the energy of excitement and enthusiasm. In the Law of Attraction, whatever you give out comes back to you many fold.

The law of attraction is so predictable and dependable. Knowing how to unleash its full potential will transform your life for the benefit of your family!

Quote of the Day: “Earning money has to do with rendering service. And the more service you render, the more money you're going to earn.”

Work Smarter Not Harder

2007-08-06T14:55:00.000+08:00

Outstanding sales results come to those sales professionals who correctly follow and apply sound sales principles. They won’t do the work for you but they will lighten your load and give you an edge. All it takes to be successful at selling your company's products is to want to improve the way you perform, see yourself using new selling techniques, give yourself permission to use the concepts and regularly practice them until they become second nature.

Have you made enough presentations?

2007-07-30T14:57:00.000+08:00

LEADS = PRESENTATIONS = SALES = YOUR INCOME

The point is - you have to have leads in order to make presentations and enough presentations equal sales and that creates your income…right? So are those the four things?No – those are three things that help to generate your income. Your income is the outcome and we’ve just identified three of the four critical steps to success. So what is the fourth?Question Four: Since you’ve identified that lead deficiency is a problem, what’s the solution?Good question! Any building built on a weak foundation is subject to crumble. Likewise, any sales professional who misses the foundation of sales success will struggle and, likely fail. This foundation is prospecting.

One of my dear friends and a great professional speaker, Gary O’Sullivan (www.garyosullivan.com) states in his book “Principle Power” the following: “Every day you don’t prospect, the next day you must settle for a lesser degree of performance!” Ladies and Gentlemen…that statement is a fact. The foundation of consistent sales performance is prospecting on a consistent basis.

How many times have I heard someone say to me in a job interview, “You hand me a lead and I’ll close ‘em. I’m a closer.” Well, let me say, I didn’t hire those folks because they were applying for a sales position and closing is just a part of the process. True sales professionals do four things: (1) prospect for leads; (2) develop the leads they identify; (2) make sales presentations; and (4) close sales. Each of those represents the four critical steps to sales success.

Remember the solution is always to the left!

PROSPECTING = LEADS = PRESENTATIONS = SALES = YOUR INCOME!

Simple is the key

2007-07-24T15:33:00.000+08:00

Keep it Simple. Many sales incentive programs are doomed to fail before they are even introduced to the employees. The reason is that they are too complicated to win and too difficult to understand. Matters get worst when the informations are not addressed properly. The result is confusion among employees and the people responsible in the program, not to mention the waste of money and the lack of internet shown by the employees toward the program.

Keep it simple. Try not to sound as if you are too genius that you were able to form the idea and nobody else can't. Inform you employees well on how incentives are won.

To level out the playing field, educate all your employees with the right methods and procedures. Guide and motivate so that they can win the sales incentives. You have invested on this big, don’t attempt to waste it.

Reward immediately. Lack of interest sets in if the span of winning and rewarding is getting too long. Once they achieved the necessary requirement for an incentive, reward immediately. Do not let the awarding sit and wait until your employees are convinced that they will not get an incentive after all the effort they have done.

Also, it is equally important not too set a lengthy program. Take this an example: If a mother tells her son that he will receive a bike if he will keep his room clean for 1 year, he will find it difficult to do it and will not bother to get the incentive at all. Don’t let your employees lose interest on your program by committing the same mistake.

RECOGNIZE... There is no such a thing as too much recognition. If someone has achieved a significant sales feat, recognize him. Give him awards for his achievements. And do it where others may see. People are motivated when they know that their contributions are being recognized. Use this as a tool to increase your profit a hundred fold.

Use This Law To Further Your Sales Career

2007-07-17T15:31:00.000+08:00

1. Have A Giving Mindset.

The law of attraction states that you get back what you give out. When you go out to meet clients, focus on giving value-added service to them. Do not think that your objective is to close sale. In this way, you will send out a powerful positive energy that your client can sense which in turn influencing them to place business with you. Heard of the quote “Givers Get.”?

2. Know your unique selling points (USP)

Know your strength and weakness and focus on projecting your strength. Use what you are good at to differentiate from your peers. This quality of yours is what makes you unique. Do you know your USP? Here’s the secret: make a list of what your clients have complimented you for. Did they tell you that you are cheerful, very reliable, friendly, easy to get along with, extremely knowledgeable, or comfortable to talk to? Ask them if they don’t tell you!

As you make the list and think about it, you will start to become aware that the reason why they do business with you is YOU.

Knowing your uniqueness bring confidence. The more you like yourself, the more you will send out a positive energy of gratitude, and appreciation. Again your client can immediately sense that reciprocate back the energy.

Repeat The Technique Until It Is Yours

2007-07-15T14:54:00.000+08:00

As you are taught new sales techniques you need to practice them on the job as well as in your mind, until you can use them in each transaction without even thinking about their use. We call this level of sales proficiency “unconscious competence.”

Many sales professionals, try a new sales approach only once or twice before rejecting it out of hand or deciding that it will not work for them. True professionals; however, diligently practice a new sales concept until they can execute it without even thinking about it. This approach (going beyond an intellectual knowledge of a sales method) sets top producers apart and can be seen in their extraordinary closing and multiple sales success. It is also quite noticeable in their pay checks as well!

Role-playing at each new sales technique with a co-worker is a powerful way to gain the ability to consistently use these concepts on the job. Remember; however, that practice does not make perfect. Only “perfect practice” makes perfect. So as you practice with other employees, try to be as accurate as you can in the execution of a given sales concept.

Set aside some time each working day to drill in the sales concepts you have been taught. Take them one at a time and master each one. It might surprise you how much more you will enjoy coming to work when you become truly proficient in building sales and long term customer relationships for your company.

Saturate Your Mind

Saturate your mind with sales and motivational materials. As you do this, you will move from an intellectual understanding of the sales techniques to a daily working knowledge of the methods you need to succeed, and you will have more than just an occasional thought about what you are trying to accomplish. What is needed to help you change your behavior is a constant positive saturation of your mind by reading over the materials you have been given or the notes you have taken on the subject.

In his tapes, The Psychology of Selling, Brian Tracy tells his listeners that one of the best methods to increase sales success is to read then reread one of the best books on sales for 30 minutes each day. He feels this type of saturation will have a tremendous impact on the sales activity of an individual. Research from Stanford University indicates that you can learn more from reading the same book six times than you can from reading 40 books on the same subject.

Are You Seeing Enough People

2007-07-14T14:56:00.000+08:00

Question Two: If you don’t have enough sales to support your income needs, then aren’t you lacking in enough people to see – enough presentations or appointments?This one seems obvious. If you are not generating enough sales volume either you lack people to see (enough appointments) or your closing skills need improvement. More times than not, the issue isn’t just closing skills, it’s people to present to and close.

Let’s look at this two ways: (1) if you are having trouble setting appointments from your leads (which, by the way is closing), then you will have more trouble closing the sale when you do make a presentation; and (2) inadequate presentations will always result in inadequate sales.

So let’s look at our matrix thus far. Remember the solution is always to the left!

PRESENTATIONS = SALES = YOUR INCOME

O.K., so you get it? The solution is always to the left. If you don’t have enough presentations you won’t have enough sales. So what now?Question Three: If I don’t have enough presentations, then how many leads do you have in your pipeline?Well, I don’t know. Probably enough! Really? Ask yourself this question; do you suspect that highly successful business people guess at their income or assets? Better still, if you were having surgery tomorrow would you want the person administering the anesthesia to guess at the amount? Of course not! Then, why would you guess about your leads?If you don’t know how many leads you have, then you don’t have a finger on the pulse of your lifeline. For sales professionals, lead acquisition and management is critical. You can take it to the bank, if you lack presentations, you lack a sufficient number of leads to support your sales efforts.

Let’s go back…remember the solution is always to the left. Look at the matrix again.

Successful Conferences - Top 5 Tips

2007-07-09T16:15:00.000+08:00

Hot tips on how to transform your conference into an exceptional event!

Know what you want Know your event objectives. What is the key message of your conference? What information do you need to pass onto your delegates?

Know how to get it Fully brief your delegates, guest speakers & your conference organisers of your key objectives. Utilise their skills to deliver your messages in interesting and fun ways.

Maintain quality at every turn
Strongly advise your internal speakers to stay within their allotted speaking time. When it comes to presentations - less is quite often more!

The all work and no play philosophy Be aware of how much information is too much information. Don't overload your delegates. Down time is just as important. Make sure you allot free time for reflection and rest. Always book some fun corporate activities and entertainment?

These great ideas come from the people at http://www.motivationworldwide.com

Concentration

2007-07-02T08:48:00.000+08:00

Concentrate; put all your eggs in one basket, and watch that basket... - Andrew Carnegie

Success...it is focusing the full power of all you are on what you have a burning desire to achieve. - Wilferd A. Peterson

How to make the most of your sales promotion

2007-06-27T15:30:00.000+08:00

The keys to maximising your sale promotion come two areas:

1. The creation of perceived value 2. The strength of the communication

Perceived value is the value that the consumer places on what you are offering. It is key to offer something which consumers think is worth a lot, but which costs you a little. Before the great DVD avalanche of 2006, DVD’s had a perceived value of around a tenner. So if you had put a DVD on a magazine, newspaper or other product selling for a pound or less, that looks would look like a fantastic deal to the consumer.

Now the perceived value of free DVD’s is much lower, because they are so commonly given away and people may have poor experiences with them.

The strength of the communication is especially significant at how effective you are at combining the sales promotion with other parts of the marketing mix. For example, if your sales promotion is at point of purchase, certain words are most effective at triggering a response. Free is best. Bonus or extra is good. Long-winded explanations are bad, so just get straight to the point. Certain colour combinations work best, with white out of red (think New Year sales) being the punchiest and most attention grabbing. Fluorescent is also fine, but think about the image of your brand!

Costs and benefits of sales promotion

The costs of sales promotion depend on what the upside for an increased sale is to you. The cost of the discount or gift should be in proportion to the margin you earn from each incremental sale. One big cost of promoting at point of sale, is that of rewarding everyone who buys your product, not just the incremental customers you were aiming for. So you will effectively be paying the people who would have bought your product anyway – another reason why sales promotion is most profitable for launches, as no one was purchasing the product before.

This means you need to achieve a substantial incremental up-lift in sale. Make sure you measure your up-lift. As a benchmark, if your sales promotion breaks even you’re doing pretty well. If you work in a sector where high loyalty exists, with few people likely to switch, a high incremental volume is unlikely. You will lose your shirt.

When and why you should use a sales promotion?

2007-06-24T15:29:00.000+08:00

Sales promotion is incredibly controversial. Estimates of what percentage of marketing spend goes on sales promotion vary (especially by industry sector) but one thing everyone agrees on is that it has spiraled massively in the last 20 years.

The reason is that sales promotion brings instant benefits to a company is sales. Sales promotion is unashamedly about making sales go up very quickly at minimal cost. That is why CEO’s of public companies like it and can sometimes use it to prop up stock prices. For example, because of the downward pressure on sales of print media such as newspapers and magazines caused by the internet, marketers have had to resort to switching almost all marketing funds to short-term sales promotion to preserve circulation figures, and therefore future advertising revenue.

What marketers don’t like is that nearly a 100% of the time sales promotion does nothing for brand equity. It can in fact, damage it. Heavy promotion looks desperate and erodes the perceived value of a product. It is possible to create brand building sales promotions – Clinique Bonus Time is one of them – but they’re as rare as hen’s teeth.

Not only that, but sales promotions very hardly ever pay out in profit terms. We have personal experience at utalkmarketing.com of over 50 sales promotion exercises, and we can only think of two that were absolutely profitable. Sales promotion disguise an underlying problem: you’re not selling as many as you want to. They don’t actually solve it.

Some people will justify the cost by saying that they can sample products and it gains new buyers for the future. Our experience (and that of most marketers) is that this only happens once in a blue moon. The only time that sales promotion can be a legitimate long-term way of building a products sales is for a launch, or perhaps a relaunch. If trial is one of your marketing objectives, then sampling, free gifts and money off tactics are legitimate ways of influencing people give you a go. However, these are unlikely to work without other elements of the marketing mix.

Release Your Inner Brakes

2007-06-15T14:53:00.000+08:00

By releasing your “inner brakes” and seeing yourself using the sales and customer service techniques you have learned, you can become extremely successful in your efforts to sell your company's products and services. If you want to consistently produce multiple sales transactions, just let yourself go and you will start to see the success you are seeking. You have the right to be successful. The only thing that can stop your improvement and ultimate success is yourself. Tell yourself that it is all right to produce outstanding sales results; and then, begin envisioning the success you expect to achieve.

Use Affirmations To Produce Success

To help you consistently execute the sales techniques you have learned, use affirmations to change the way you think and perform. Affirmations can also help release your internal breaking system.

We gravitate to our dominant thought patterns. By using affirmations (“I can,” “I am,” etc.), you can create dominant thoughts about specific sales methods that will help you to move away from your fears (the fear of failure or of looking foolish) toward successful sales transactions. Write down a series of positive affirmations about the sales process or a specific technique. Then read them over until you create the dominant thought patterns that produce success.

As we teach in all of our Sales Success workshops and discuss in detail in our published training material, it is vital to your sales success that you regularly affirm your selling skills and visualize successful transactions using the techniques you have learned. To succeed you must see yourself as one of your company’s top sales producers by regularly performing mental dress rehearsals for the position.

Choice

2007-06-12T16:38:00.000+08:00

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. - Viktor E. Frankl

We fail to see that we can control our own destiny; make ourselves do whatever is possible; make ourselves become whatever we long to be. - Orison Swett Marden

Averages

2007-06-11T16:25:00.000+08:00

The Success always has a number of projects planned, to which he looks forward. Any one of them could change the course of his life overnight. - William M. Winans

Advantage

2007-06-06T16:35:00.000+08:00

Do the next thing.
JOHN WANAMAKER

The wise man avoids evil by anticipating it.
PUBLILIUS SYRUS

Let our advance worrying become advance thinking and planning.
WINSTON CHURCHILL

Time Management At Work

2007-05-22T08:57:00.000+08:00

A career in sales may sound fascinating and lucrative to many. However, you must analyze it from all the important aspects before deciding to pursue sales as your profession. Exploring several opportunities is necessary as you might get to know about better options available and feel interested in a particular sector of sales.

Job Profile

Sales primarily revolves around the main intention of making money, deriving huge benefits and increasing customer satisfaction as well as loyalty. It includes several activities including converting various opportunities into orders along with negotiating, propositioning, presentation and deal closing. It even envelops imparting knowledge regarding marketing like competing risks, current business trends and benefit analysis.

Research Leads To Knowledge:

Knowledge plays a very significant role in order to be successful. No matter which degree you graduated with, you can always acquire the skills to sell, provided you have the zeal and urge to do well in your career. Similar to other professions, people in sales need to be hard working, dedicated, committed and talented in order to survive in the competitive world of sales. It is like the man eats man theory. You need to be on your toes most of the time, in order to meet the targets; otherwise you’ll find someone else ready to replace you. One should always do a lot of research work and take the opinions of people who have been working in this field from a long time. You can get to know about various challenges, fears, different issues and general work culture as a whole. Second hand work experience would certainly help an aspiring candidate in understanding the job completely, along with its positive as well as negative effects.

Job Opportunities

It’s a great career to be part of, because one gets the opportunity to stay dynamic, meet several different people, travel a lot and resolve problems. A sales person should be efficient enough to understand every detail about the product and able to explain the product to customers in a proper way. It’s necessary that he/she should be able to make the customer understand features of the product and other necessary details. They must be acquainted with marketing strategies and should be able to implement it to one’s daily professional life.

Basic Skills

The profession of sales has lagged behind other professions mainly because of the inability to seriously understand the career. It is always useful to pursue a degree in sales and promotion because it is a difficult job and not the kind of thing that can be done well by every one and anyone. One needs to have an undying passion and inclination to excel, learn new skills, developing technical knowledge and bring good will to the company. Some of the other attributes of a sales person are good critical thinking skill, ability to take rejection and excellent verbal and written communication skills. You should even have some knowledge about the advertising industry and tricks of the trade regarding sales and promotion.

It’s advisable for a newbie who aspires to be in a sales career to search for a good sales team to work with and especially an efficient sales manager who can help them learn the practical fundamental elements of the sales business.

Sales is a dynamic field and one cannot apply the same traditional methods that once worked. It requires implementing the latest methodology and strategies to ensure success.

Sales Letter Website Secrets

2007-05-18T08:28:00.000+08:00

A sales letter website can be very profitable. When I first started out on the internet I was under the illusion that you have to build a content site with thousands of pages of good quality content. Now this does work if you look at websites like the About portal and other portals such as AOL. This is a lot of work and may not suit everybody. There are basically two kinds of websites. Your portal website where you make money from advertising and your sales letter website where you have a website with a sales letter that has really good advertising copy that sells a product. Now you need a good quality product with a good niche to get this model to work. If you have very good sales copy you can get three to five percent of your visitors to convert to sales. Let us look at the elements that make a good sales letter for a website.

The most important part of this website is to have an attention grabbing headline as this is the first thing that your visitor will see. If it does not catch their attention they will not even read the rest of your sales letter. A good headline can increase your conversion by three hundred to four hundred percent.

You have to have copy that emphasizes the benefits of your product. People buy because of emotion and not features. You need to make sure that you have a compelling P.S. as this is the second most important part of your sales letter and often will persuade a visitor to buy who is sitting on the fence. You need to have a professional web design and layout including ebook cover graphics as this is proven to increase your conversion rate.

If you implement this model in a good niche with a good product, recruit a lot of affiliates and drive traffic to the website you can make a fortune with your sales letter website. A typical example of a successful sales letter website can be found on Clickbank where this business model has been proven many times over.

Would you like to know more about the magical marketing techniques that have helped me to quit my day job? I have just completed my new guide.

10 Ways to Overcome Sales Objections

2007-05-17T08:05:00.000+08:00

According to the experts who conduct sales coaching and sales training courses, most of the sales objections take place when a sales rep has failed to show to the client the usefulness of the product. Overcoming these objections is a very important lesson for a sales rep. It is important to remember that the customer may not always give the actual reason for objecting to the sale. Sometimes it is actually the customer wants to know more about the product and so puts forward objections to know more about it. Even the customer may not realize this, but a good rep can make it out.

Sales coaching and sales training courses can show the different strategies of dealing with the objections. Here are some strategies to do that.

1. Establish trust. This of course has to be mutual. If you have established trust then the client is also going to have confidence in you. Make the client understand that you are the expert as far as the product is concerned. In the process if you are able to make friends with the client, even better. But, it is not absolutely necessary. It is enough if you gain their confidence and trust.

2. Be patient. Always listen carefully to any objection that is being raised. Analyze it. Is it actually an objection or is it just a ploy to delay the deal? Most often if it is an objection, the client is going to repeat it. You can clarify by asking questions starting with “Don’t you really mean…” or something like that.

3. Confirm with the client if it is the only objection. Don’t ask it outright but, instead you can ask something like “Is this the only reason you won’t buy from our company?” If they have other objections they will come out with it.

4. Confirm the same thing again. You can reword the question to ask the same thing again. For instance you can ask “In other words, if it weren't for the price, you'd buy my service. Is that true?”

5. When you are asking the question, ask it in such a way that you give the solution to the objection. They should not feel that there is no way around the objection. For example if the objection for the warrantee you can ask “So if I were able to get you a longer warrantee, would that be enough for you to make a decision?”

6. The objection should be solved in such a way as to resolve the whole issue for once and all. You can pull out all the stops here. If you have testimonial letters or competitive comparison charts or special offer then, this is the time to bring them out.

7. Remember, now is the time to demonstrate the value of your product, list comparisons and show the benefits. If you cannot clarify the doubts of the client in a way that sets you apart from the other, you will never be able to close this sale. For that matter you will not get the confidence to close any other sale.

8. Ask a closing question or communicate in a speculative way. Ask a question, the answer to which confirms the sale. “If I could do X, Y or Z , would you give me your order ?” is the classic model for a close.

9. Narrate similar incidents that took place. It might have happened to you or might be another sales person. People always find comfort in knowing that others have gone through the same fate and if these people are known to your clients, even better.

10. Once all the objections have been resolved successfully, get the order in writing as much as possible. For this you can ask questions like “When do you want it delivered?” or “When is the best day to begin”.

Product knowledge, creativity, ingenuity, sales tools, and confidence in yourself, your product, and your company must all some together if you are to overcome sales objections and close the sale. You have to combine technique with honesty and conviction to get the prospect to resolve any lingering doubt or conflict.

The Second Step in Sales

2007-05-16T09:52:00.000+08:00

This second step in sales is about the immortal on-liner: “the offer you can not refuse.”

There are two or more views on sales. The individual view in which the professional sales representative is able to persuade the next deal. The other view is one in which corporations manage the sales process. Both sales activities have in common that the way in which this process is managed defines the success of the sales.

Large corporations that depend heavily on sales will try to select the best sales representatives. Yet this is (apparently) not enough. To be successful in sales requires a sophisticated method. And the offer you can not refuse is an important second step.

There are many reasons why you cannot refuse the offer. One is that you are not really aware that the offer is part of the deal. For example when you buy your internet package at home the offer includes a “FREE” virus scan. The only thing the buying customer needs to do is cancel this part of the deal after three month after which he will be charged. The virus scan is no longer free. If you let go you are stuck with something you didn’t ask for.

Other offers you cannot refuse include all those little presents that will pull you over (the barrier). By accepting such a small and handy gift -- you would never have bought yourself, but comes in very neat -- you have emotionally unveiled yourself for the next step. This is for the real bonus you have to pay for. And you will.

Many additional examples fit in this step, including all those where you offer a discount if the prospect … acts soon, preferably right now.

But the essence of this step and of the other two steps of the general sales process is that organizing is all. It is the method that does it. Therefore you have to be prepared so that you can show the potential customer the way.

Turning Sales Techniques Into Sales Success!

2007-05-15T08:29:00.000+08:00

The goal of all sales training is not just to teach solid selling principles and techniques, but to actually help participants increase the number of new accounts (products and/or services) they sell and improve their multiple sales ratios. Unfortunately, many sales and service industry professionals gain an intellectual awareness of the methods of selling from the sales training they receive, yet fail to improve their bottom line sales results by systematically using the concepts in their daily transactions. See my article, The Processionary Caterpillar Syndrome Costs You Sales?

There are a number of methods you can use to move beyond an intellectual awareness of sound sales techniques. By applying some of these ideas, you can begin to see a steady improvement in the number and scope of your sales transactions. These concepts can help any sales professional drill-for-skill the vital selling principles needed to become a sales leader. Really all it takes to be successful in sales is just a little practice and perseverance.

Give Yourself Permission To Succeed

To become a sales leader in any kind of business only requires that you give yourself permission to succeed. In sales, as in every endeavor in life, it is your attitude not your attributes that count. There is no reason you can not be extremely successful at selling your company’s products and services, if you make up your mind to do the job.

William James, a Harvard Professor and the man many view as the father of American Psychology, wrote in 1895:

“The greatest discovery of my generation is, that a human being can alter his circumstances in life by altering his attitude of mind.”

James also gave people a formula for achieving an altered attitude of mind. He simply told them to “act as if” they were already successful and this act alone could make them successful. If you act as if you have changed or act like a different person, according to James, you must change or become a different person. If a sales professional acts as if she can sell, her sales ratios and product account closings can do nothing but improve.

Sales Success: Critical Steps

2007-05-14T08:34:00.000+08:00

It’s been said often, “Some folks can’t seem to see the forest for the trees.” Perhaps that’s true in any arena, but it seems that it’s rampant in sales, especially when sales are down. This article explores the fundamental law of sales - "The Solution is Always to the Left." Stick to the basics and watch your sales soar!

It’s been said often, “Some folks can’t seem to see the forest for the trees.” Perhaps that’s true in any arena, but it seems that it’s rampant in sales, especially when sales are down. Time after time, when sales start to fall we find sales people becoming so caught up in the “slump” that they fail to focus on the four critical steps to consistent sales success. Motivational speaking is a multi-million dollar a year business and, in large part, it is attended by those who need that inspirational reminder of what they already know. Not that speaking for a living is bad. I do that. The audience, however, through years of experience already knows the answer. They just need to be reminded. Sales people tend to be motivated by immediate gratification. Those who have been in sales successfully for years understand that seeds planted today come to fruition later. Although there are moments of immediate gratification, frequently the fruition will take time. Motivational speeches are, perhaps, that little nudge to focus them not on the slump, but on the outcome. Let’s define the four critical steps to sales success, in order to re-establish successful habits. Mind you now, once you read this you’ll know just how simple sales success can be, if only you’ll focus on these four items and ignore all other distractions.
Question One: If your income comes from sales, are you making as much as you want or need?If you answered, yes - Stop reading! You obviously are practicing the fundamental principles that create success and reading further is a distraction. Go back to doing what you do best.

If, on the other hand, you answered No – then you don’t have enough sales. Sales create income and not enough income equals not enough sales. Solution – go get more sales. Now, I know from making hundreds of presentations to countless sales professionals, some of you are a bit perplexed at my simplistic approach. How, you say, do we just go get more sales? We’ll get to that, but for now stick with me. The first step is increasing your sales volume. Simple. There is nothing hard about this concept. It is critical to grasp, however, because the solution is always to the left. That statement will make sense a bit later.

All You Need To Know About Sales Promotion

2007-05-11T09:18:00.000+08:00

Explanation

The methods for creating public acceptance of, or interest in a product. This is usually in addition to standard merchandising techniques, such as advertising or personal selling, and normally consisting of an offer of free samples, gifts made to a purchaser, and so on.

Meaning?

Got a living room full of free DVD’s in cheap cardboard sleeves? Ever go crazy at Clinique Bonus Time? Own 17 pairs of cheap flip flops from Marie Claire and Cosmopolitan? Then as a consumer, you’ve already bought into the fast-moving world of sales promotion.

Sales promotion can be broken down into the general areas of:

• Gift With Purchase (GWP) e.g. free Amelie DVD with the Guardian

• Percent Extra Free e.g. 20% more L’Oreal shampoo

• Sampling e.g. that fragrance sample that made your fashion magazine smell like a tart’s boudoir

• Money-off offers on-pack e.g. normally £5, now £3

• Coupons against future redemptions e.g. 15% off your first purchase of Olay’s new wonder wrinkle cream

Sales promotion comes into contact with many other areas of marketing. For example, samples are often sent out by direct mail and gifts with purchases are frequently heavily promoted at point of sale. Sales promotions are rarely successful on their own without assistance from other elements of the marketing mix.