Write it Down

Yep, if you want to be a great seller, you have to write it down. You need to write down your 5 year goal, your 1 month goal, and your goal for today. You have to write down your goals for the day and your plan on how you will accomplish your goals. You do not need an amazing tracking program, you can use a piece of paper and a pencil or crayon if needed. Do not let anything get in the way of writing it down.

If you want to see all the reasons why you should write it down, start reading books and blogs dedicated to sellers. If they wrote a book they tell you why. Here,I dont have time to waste on tell you why, just do it.

Sales tip of the week - The guy next door

So you just stepped out of an appointment with either a client, or a prospective client and there is another business or 2 in the building, or strip center.  You could leave or you could maximize your time by seeing “the guy next door”.  How do randomly walk into a business you only know exists because it is next door or near one you just left?  Simple.  Walk in and say something to the effect of “I was just over at X and noticed your business, what type of business do you do?”  Now if it says “Joe’s plumbing” then don’t ask what they do, but ask what they specialize in, business or residential.  This very simple technique works to get you in the door and passed the “why are you here” section.  You can then start with some of the easy follow up questions such as “are you the owner” or “how long have you been here/ in business?”  Now you are in to door.   At this point it is up to you based on the way the conversation is going and how well you are connecting with the person in front of you.  Sometimes this will turn in to a great bit of small talk as you find something in common, could turn into an opportunity right away, or might just be someone you can say you stopped in on and there was not an opportunity at that time.

The ‘guy next door” might be your next account.  Try this out after you next appointment.

Great Sellers tip of the day - Thank you

When was the last time you sent your good clients a handwritten thank you note?  I said, "good" for a reason because you have probably done something for your great clients, but what about your bread and butter clients?

why handwritten?  everything from the envelope to the letter inside needs to be handwritten for one reason - it will get read.  Thats right, why a pour good, well thought out message just ot have it trashed.  how do i know it will end up in the garbage?  It will end up there because you do the same thing.  remember that birthday card you got form your insurance company?  you know the one with a nice message, and maybe signed?  did it mean anything to you?  nope?  me either.  However i recently sent a handful of the handwritten thank you notes out to a few clients i see frequently to see if they would notice.  100% of them said something to me in the next 2 weeks about it.

so what did my note say?

each was different, but something to the effect of:

Dear _____ (i used their 1st names)
I just wanted to write to you just to say thank you.  Its not often that i take the time just to say thank you to my best clients.  So, Thank you for the trust you put in me and the relationship we share.

again, thank you

Ryan

You will notice that i did not put anything in about sending me referrals or that i had some new product to sell them.  My message was very clear, that I appreciated their business.

Do your good, or even your great clients know that you appreciate them?

Great selling starts with great sellers who do the things no one else is doing

Great Sellers tip of the week - Elephant Hunting, or know your 3

Know your 3. What I mean is know the 3 big businesses you want to land, the elephants. These will be high impact-to-your-sales-goal type businesses. Of these three you may only get 1 or even none, but if you don’t have targets you don’t know how to aim. So pick 3 businesses you really want to get into and know why you want them. Set a plan on how you will try and contact the owner. The objective in the beginning is to get an appointment with a decision maker. Who do you know that might know the right person? Have you checked reference USA or Linked-in to see if you have any useful information there? Do any of your current clients or networking contacts have a contact to help you? Would anyone mind writing you a business letter of reference to help you establish why they should do business with you? Track your plan and adjust it as necessary. You can land that big client; you just have to make sure it’s not by chance.

You cannot spend all your time elephant hunting, but the 3 you pick should be worth it to you.  They can be year long or longer projects.  Just getting to the right person is time consuming enough.  I know I am making this seem like a huge process but its not.  Just identify the target and do a little research.  Be prepared for a long journey, but also be just as prepared if someone asks you a closing lead-in question.  Is does have to take long, but it probably will.

Great Sellers can sell to top clients, medium clients, and entry level clients.

Great Sellers tip of the day - SHUTUP

yep, thats right, shut-up.  As sales people we tend to be very extroverted, and forget that others have the control.  if we are trying to close a sale we need to shut-up for a few seconds to let the prospect answer our questions and to ask their own.  I am personally one of these people that cannot stop talking.  in meetings i purposly tell myself to shut up.  i know the answers to the questions and want to just move things along.

in the sale process the same thing can happen.  youre working with a particular person or industry person and you know already, more than likely better than they do, what they need.  So, no reason to beat around the bush, just show them how much you know about their job and then close in for the sale right?

wrong

you have to remember that although you sell it all day long the buyer doesnt buy it all day long.  The more involved the prospect feels in coming up with the solution (buying what youre selling) the more likely they will actually do it.  Kind of like leading your boss to come up with the answer you already had, its much better cause he/she thought of it.

So slow down and shut up.  You wont sell more, but you will close more and thats becoming a great seller

quote of the day - insanity

Paraphrasing Mr Einstein

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result.

How does this play into sales?  If you are not getting the results you are looking for why do you keep doing the same activities.  Make a change, either major or minor, but dont keep doing the same things in the same ways.  if you are a route person, go backwards through the route.  if you normally call in the mornings, call in the afternoon.  If you usually hold your employees one on ones on Friday, make it Wednesday.

Like exercising, you need to change the workout to make it effective.

Do something today, just do it different

Great Sellers are not set in their ways.

Great Sellers Tip of the Day - step away

Its important for anyone who is selling for a living or for money that they take a day here and there to mentally take a step back and allow the selling part of your brain to take a day off.  just like most things in life you will run out of energy if you dont let up every once in a while.

Even if its mowing the lawn or doing home chores, stop thinking about the next sale or the next appointment.  I highly recommend exercise.  I am currently doing p90x, but the type of exercise you get isnt important but doing something to let your body and mind get that stress out is important.

Great Sellers take great care of themselves too