aspirational selling

When selling, to only look at what problems the buyer or prospect has is only really looking at half of the equation. If you, like me, have been taught the consultive approach, you look for the pain and try to fix it.

Now if you also included where the prospect/buyer wanted to go you would be forward looking and perhaps increase the sale or the likelihood of success.

So ask questions like:
so what do you want to accomplish in the next year?
What stretch goals have been set?
What would need to happen to make those goals happen?

You still need to uncover the pain and try and fix it, but having the buyer also looking bigger picture will make sure you are uncovering all the opportunity.

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.

your job is alive

Thats right, your job is alive. Its a creature that loves new people. Why? Because it loves the energy and new ideas new people bring to it. So if you look up at your ceiling and ask "job, what should i do today?" it will answer you with an answer that will get you fired.

Thats right, your job wants to fire you. So what can you do about it?

You need to plan. You need to write down your goals for the day and then either cross them off as they get done or write down the result.


If you plan you will win, if you let your job do it for you, it will get a new fresh full of ideas body soon.

Sales people read

So how much do you read every day, week, month? You need to read about sales, sales management, and life often. Recently i had been going through some blahhhs. I realized that i was uninspired and my coworkers had even pointed out that I had lost a little of that spark they depended on for their inspiration. They also mentioned that I had not posted on here in a while. So I took their thoughts and reflections of my own to heart and asked, "what changed?" The answer is i stopped reading the ezines, books, and articles i was used to reading. I stopped getting new ideas. I stopped new opportunities and challenges from coming my way. In short, my brain got bored. Honestly, sales is pretty much the samething everyday with new people. If you sit back and say, its the same thing everyday then you will get bored like I did.

I started reading. I signed up for new sales ezines and newsletters, i met back with a sales networking team i hadnt been to in a month or two. I brought back out a book or two i had enjoyed and reread them.

I started seeing answers to questions and I started inspiring my mind, and it was ready.

Yours is ready too. Start reading.

In case youre wondering which two books i reread they were "GO for NO" and "Switch"

Joint Calls

Nope I'm not selling drugs. Today, I want to talk about the benefits of a joint call. Call one of your coworkers and setup a trade. You go on one of their calls with them and they go one with you. You will find that the feedback you get is very valuable. If your boss currently goes on a call or two with you its not the same thing, because there is less pressure if you mess up.

The partner helps with the sale where appropriate but basically is a good listen during the sale. Then they will give feedback on where they thought things could have gone better and where you did really well.

Try this and I think you will find you improve quickly and you will develop a nice working relationship with that coworker built on honest feedback.

Go sell great today

Should I stay or should I go?

This is straight from Mr. Inside Sales, Mike Brooks.

So, you have a prospect who wont answer you and you want to have them *** or get off the pot.

Here is the email you send. I have used 2 or 3 times in the last month with amazing, 1 to 2 hour returns when its been weeks or months.

enjoy.

Subject of your email: "Should I stay or Should I go?"

"_________ While I've tried to reach you, I haven't heard back from you and that tells me one of three things:

1) You've already chosen another company for this and if that's the case please let me know so can I stop bothering you,

2) You're still interested but haven't had the time to get back to me yet

3) You've fallen and can't get up and in that case please let me know and I'll call 911 for you...

Please let me know which one it is because I'm starting to worry...

Thanks in advance and I look forward to hearing back from you."
I have used the and it works great.

its a brand new year

Yes, its time for new years resolutions and as many of us are trying to see how much weight we can lose, or are making other personal goals.  I suggest looking at our professional worlds as well.

You need to set goals.  A short term goal (a week or a month) a mid term goal (6 months) and an annual goal.  Write it down, even if its on a post it.  Just write it down.

Today is the 1st day of the year.  Don't waste it.  Almost everyone is back to work today and not yet back into their groove yet.  This is a perfect time for a phone call to a few prospects.  This is also the time when people make changes like youre trying to do.  "it's a new year, time for a new x" type of thinking will serve you well for the next week or so.

Start early as everyone who does what you do will be "getting back into the groove of things" soon.

YOu dont have to be better than everyone else, just be better than you were last year.

Wintertime is sales time

love playing golf?  On a crisp summer’s morning, do you find great pleasure in chasing a three dollar golf ball around for a couple of hours prior to starting your day?  This leisurely activity is made possible by the long hours spent selling your backside off during the other months. Now is the perfect time to put your head down and recommit yourself to a schedule that includes little time for anything but selling. The work you do now will affect your sales three to six months from now. Do you want to have a great summer? Sell hard now!

Are you waiting on Santa?

So many of us (that dont work retail) look at the holidays as a slow time.  We attend office parties, or work on projects thinking that December is going to be slow.

If you think this way it will be a self fulfilling prophecy.

You might not get a lot of sales, but how does your sales pipeline look right now?  Super full?  Ready to explode with great business right from the start of January?  This is one of the easiest times to use "the guy next door" method

see - for details (http://thegreatsellers.com/?p=14)

I was just visiting my client X next door and I realized I have never stopped in here.

Since no one else is out, the people are not as ready to toss you to the curb.  Heck, i have been offered Hot Chocolate before from an office I had never been in before.

Enjoy this season, and remember that you miss every shot you don't take (Paraphrasing Michael Jordan).   If you chose to stay inside or not pick up the phone then you are choosing to have a bad month.  Not to mention a bad January to boot.

Selling isnt rocket science nor providing world peace, but to not study or believe in what youre doing is asking for someone to tell you what you do isnt rocket science or making world peace

What "The Office" has do do with real life sales

So i was watching this weeks episode of "the office" and saw that one of the salesmen was having a great sales streak.  He then went to the accounting group to see what his latest "big sale" was going to net him in commission.  he found out that his company had put in a commission cap and that his sales for the rest of the year will earn him $0.

1st, if you have any influence over a commission or bonus structure, which i am guessing most of us, including me, do not, but if you do, make it a formula you would be gitty to pay a salesperson $1,000,000 in bonus or commission.  Aka make it where it makes sense no matter how much you pay out.

Now, to those of us who have seen our commissions/bonuses reduced, eliminated, or delayed for this year etc, you need to find alternate motivation.  I know easier said then done.  I personally have found by doing some customized rankings that I have some competition in sales volume with a few others and now am focusing on staying number one for the year.  Number 1 doesnt matter, but if you find yourself in the middle of the pack, pick out a name or two close to you and just work on beating them.

Sales managers - again, i have no control over the incentive plan at my company so for those who dont have one right now (all of us) i am working really hard to provide extra training (class, one on one, or in the field), afternoons/mornings off, flexible schedules, and preparing the best year end reviews I can for my top people so that if/when, there are merit raises i am well prepared to go to battle for my people.  We cannot afford to lose our best people so this is an opportunity for us to become better bosses.

If you are not a boss and your boss isnt helping the motivation factors much, then you need to look for competition, or ways of getting more job satisfaction that doesnt involve cash.  Keep up with your sales numbers and other projects you have been involved with so that you can be well prepared for your year end evaluation.  If you are at the top, you can ask for the things i mentioned above, or if you have a particularly good sale or week, then maybe then too.

If, in these times, you can find job satisfaction by helping your clients achieve more, your people grow/learn more, or prepare yourself for the coming year better, then you will be using this time to the best.

Happy Sales to all, and to all a good night

great simple idea that has nothing to do with sales

I saw tis today on one of my favorite sites, lifehacker.com and thought you guys might enjoy it as well.  I like things like this

Wrap it up in silver

One of the things I discovered during my uncluttering process is that silver wrapping paper works for every gift-giving occasion — weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, baby showers, housewarming, etc. — and when you only have a few tubes of wrapping paper to store, it takes up very little space in a closet. A simple wrapping storage solution can easily handle all of our paper and supplies.

Before using silver paper, I’d been trying to use brown butcher paper for all my wrapping. However, I felt the brown paper was too casual for some occasions, like weddings and anniversaries. I ended up buying small batches of wrapping paper whenever a more formal gift-giving experience arose. The same was true for using fabric bags, and fabric puts a storage burden on the person receiving the gift. I also like the idea of reusable gift bags, but these only work on gifts that coordinate in size to the bags, so you have to store multiple sizes of bags for all different types of situations. Plus, reusable gift bags can be significantly more expensive than wrapping paper and after a couple uses start to show signs of wear. Silver wrapping paper doesn’t have any of these disadvantages — it’s inexpensive, always appropriate, fits all different sizes of gifts, can be recycled, and it doesn’t put a storage burden on the gift recipient or the gift giver.

Silver wrapping paper is in stores in abundance this time of year, and is when I typically stock up my wrapping supplies for the next 12 months. (For some reason, silver paper is much more difficult to find at other times of the year.) Before children, my husband and I could usually survive on two tubes of silver wrapping paper a year. Now that we have a son, we’ve decided to pump that number up to four.

The best deal we’ve found this year is at Ikea. Their SNÖVITA gift wrap (available only in stores) is just $1.99 a roll for 2 ¼ yards:



If you can’t find silver wrapping in your area, a white or a gold wrapping paper might also be a signature wrapping that could work in all situations the way silver does. Whatever style you decide to use, consider a method that will help to keep your wrapping paper clutter to a minimum in your home.

Posted by Erin on Nov 15, 2010

The home stretch?

I am not sure what product or service you sell, but in most there is a seasonality to it.  In mine, there isnt, but the holiday season makes things a lot different just in the schedules and thought processes of the people involved.  In either case you have a period of time that is basically the last real opportunity to earn new business for the year.  For me the year is pretty even outside the holidays, but in the past the holidays were the peak season and the holidays is why I was there.

How you prepare for the pick up or slow down is important.  Plan it out even if that means a 1/2 piece of paper jotting the known factors down.  Get your team invovled.  During the slow down portion, I like to make sure that my team knows that NOONE else will be out selling during this time which makes it easier to get in.  The sales cycle might be a bit longer, but the lack of competition is nice.  Also, this is a great time to touch base with your current clients to thank them for their business.

If its your peak time then you need to plan out your attack.  what are the main obstacles you will have in making this a great sales season?  If youre in consumer sales will it be the flow of inventory?  Or will pricing be a problem?  Do you have a list of top clients or people you could call when the "hot" item comes in?

Think this way, if I were a high volume buyer what would be really good customer service to me?  If you have people who spend a lot on your products throughout the year, call them and ask if they have a holiday list they are working on.  If they do, then you can see what you can cross off for them, or you can tell them where the good deals are, or will be.

Be proactive.  Slow times, or peek times are areas of opportunity for Great Sellers.

The basic on what to do

Saw this article and thought it brought up some good, basic tips.

Being a sales rep is a challenge for many of us. There's lots of competition and loads of choice for customers. So how do you become better at sales to achieve higher success? Here are some tips that will help you to get better results faster!

1. Solidify your character. Becoming good at sales rests upon one main key. A trustworthy character. If you've got the ability to build trust and reliability with a customer then you've got a good chance of developing a long term sales relationship. A strong character is built by doing the things you say you'll do, and being the kind of person who provides more value than they consume. A good person in all areas of their life.

2. Teach what you know to others. If you can become a good teacher, you'll build respect earn the level of authority you need to be considered an expert in your trade. Teaching others is a great way to solidify your own skills and make sure you know them inside out. You'll even learn more about yourself and others as you teach!

3. Always seek to improve yourself. Self improvement is the key to long term growth. Keep reading and learning about more and more as you go. It's a never ending process!

4. Become an advocate of your product or service. Only sell and promote products or services you can back up 100%. The key to being able to make good sales is to sell good products and services!

5. Train your communication skills daily. Communication skills are the cornerstone of all sales interactions. Learn about body language and emotional triggers. The better you can communicate, the more people you'll be able to relate to and the more sales you'll make.

6. Read all the books you can get your hands on about sales and marketing. Reading more and more books means getting better variety and flexibility in the way you communicate. More flexibility means you'll be able to relate to a larger variety of customers.

7. Ask good questions. Qualify your customers and make sure you ask questions that will encourage conversation.

8. Listen well. One of the main keys to communication is being able to ask good questions, and listen to the answers. Being a good listener will mean people will want to talk to you. This is great, as they'll be telling your their needs and wants so you can sell them products.

by Dave Vower

overcoming objections

I'd like to take just a couple of moments to hit this important topic.  No matter what you are selling, you will get an objection.  I am not going to try and go over all the possibilities as we will never get them all and most come down to some simple points.

1.  most of the time an objection is indicative of a problem with the previous information.  either you havent answered a question they have or they are unclear.  if they have decided not to use your product they will tell you.

2.  an objection is mainly a time to learn.  if you use the objection as a place for you to gain understanding of the desires of the prospect you will do a far better job in actually closing the sale

3.  you know the most common objections you are likely to encounter.  Either by yourself or with a coworker practice the process of answering the objections.  Make them hard, do give yourself an easy time because the prospect wont.  If you run into price as a problem for you, you better have a good response (value of some other nature)

If you dont take the time to work through common objections away from your client you will learn by trial and error with your prospects and lose sales because of it.

Role playing is a dying artform, but make no mistake, it's a valuable artform.

What can Billy Mays teach us about selling?

What can Billy Mays teach you about the art of selling? In a word - lots! He was called the King of infomercials. Why? Because he was the King!

He sold more than $1 billion of products at an average price of $19.95 which means he sold more than 50 million products.

While most salespeople seem to blend in with their competitive crowd, Billy Mays stood out from other corporate "Spokesmen" and "Pitchmen."

When I watch the Billy Mays commercials I see salesmanship on steroids.

He possessed some very unique qualities, which everyone in sales, should take a closer look at.

Billy Mays died suddenly June 28, 2009 of apparent heart failure. His commercials are still running which says an awful lot about his sales effectiveness.

Here's what Billy Mays can teach you about the art of selling:

1. He worked hard to develop a personal brand which included always wearing a blue shirt with khaki pants. Don't under estimate the value of your personal brand.

2. His personal branding included a black beard, his unique voice and a boisterous presentation.

3. He was passionate about his work - he really loved what he was doing. You can't fake this, and that's why it's so important for you to love the work you doing.

4. He exuded enthusiasm, energy and was extremely animated during his infomercials. Sure he annoyed some people with his exuberant selling style - but don't forget his sales topped $1 billion.

5. He was a master at selling benefits for all the products he sold. For example when talking about the "Quick Chop" he said, "It has the power to chop nuts, which you can use for toppings on ice cream Sundays."

I know for a fact most salespeople sell features not benefits. If you watched 10 Billy Mays commercials you would learn all you need to learn about selling your product's benefits.

6. Amazingly he did all of his selling within a 1.5 minute and 2 minute timeframe.

7. The price was always an affordable $19.95 or $19.99.

8. He always included a special bonus product to motivate people to buy right now. How are you using special bonuses and incentives to motivate your sales prospects and customers to buy your products and services?

9. He did something else that was pure selling genius. He always explains and shows what the product does and how it works - leaving nothing to your imagination.

He used simple language and always seemed to talk directly to the people watching his infomercials.

10. He was the PT Barnum of infomercials.

Why settle for mediocrity when you can become a selling superstar. You don't have to do everything Billy Mays did but you'd be foolish, in my opinion, to ignore everything he did.

Usually people don't buy because they get excited about the products you're selling, people buy because the sales person is excited about the products he's selling.

This excitement is contagious. And your excitement creates an advantage for you and oftentimes your excitement is all the advantage you need to make a difference and close more sales.

Simply stated, Billy Mays made buying his products a no-brainer for his customers.

He made things, everything, easier for his customers - and you can too.

After reading about Billy Mays, are you motivated to make some changes in your selling style?

Now's the time! The economy might be on the uptick and it's the perfect time to consider doing the following:

Reinventing yourself, rebuid, reshape, rework, renew, refresh and reconsider how you're selling.

If you're committed to making changes I might be able to help you.

I'll give you 57 sales tips to reinvent and distinguish yourself from your competition that you can use to rework and revitalize your sales effort.

You don't have to spend any time wondering what you can do - I've done all the work for you.

Now you can read or listen to my 57 sales tips, cherry pick the ones you like, and start using them tomorrow. Now of course this isn't for the doubting Thomas's and the Nervous Nellies in the world.

Here's the problem for many salespeople. Let's say you've been selling for 12 years. Let's also say you fall into the trap of believing that your 12 years add up to a lot of sales experience.

Here's another way of looking at it. You might have one year of experience that's been repeated 12 times. That's a scary thought - isn't it?

Unless you're a master of change and constantly chipping away at all the things that don't work and are constantly on the lookout for new sales tips, new selling ideas, and new selling strategies that you can adapt and adopt - you just might not make it to the top of the sales ladder you're climbing.

Billy Mays did it and I'm still a work in progress - and how about you?

Take a look at this if you're serious about jumpstarting your sales career and want to put a saddle on this turning economy and ride it all the way back up again.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jim_Meisenheimer

SHUT UP - round 2

A little while ago I wrote SHUTUP - a basic guide to letting the prospect do most of the talking.

Today, we will go more internal with our worlds.

The less people speak of their greatness, the more we think of it.
- Lord Bacon

So, youre doing well.  You want to make sure your boss and other important people know about it.  This is a tricky place to be, because you dont want to be a braggart and at the same time a little recognition would be nice.

Best case is that your boss notices and says something to you.

2nd is that your boss notices, but doesn't say anything to you.

3rd best case is a peer notices and points it out to everyone.

You will notice there wasnt a "you  run and tell your boss how great you are"

There is a difference between sharing a big win and summarizing your wonderfulness, and i would even suggest that if you have a big win, that its going to get noticed when the reports come out anyway, so why not let choice 1 happen?

Patience is still a virtue.

The words you don't say have more impact than the ones you do.

The Brochure - of death

Everything sounds more dangerous when you put "of death" at the end of it.  Ever notice how magicians, or jugglers use that?   but i digress.

For all things good, please stop selling, anything, by brining out your brochure and walking a prospect through it.

You're better than this, but if not, you will be now.

Ever been on a conference call or in a meeting where you get read to?  Did you like it?  me either.  Why in the world would a prospect like it?  YOu could have just mailed it to them and then called to make sure they got it.

Your sales call needs to have at least one story.  One that resonates with prospects.  Preferably one around how your product or service really helped out another person.  Practice telling your story.  My personal favorite is the self-deprecating story which takes them off guard, in that, most "sales people" don't act human or fallible.  I am not perfect but I will work harder for you and you're more important to me than you are to the other guy.

People remember stories a lot longer than they will remember your soon-to-be-trash-can-fodder brochure.

How to get and give business cards

I thought this was basic, and then i got to thinking about how many times i have seen people screw this up.  So here is a great article based on one by Emjae Johnson

Question: So do you give a card to everyone?  or hold out on them like their made of gold?

Answer:  Pass your business cards out only to those who ask you for one.  how?   you get them to ask you for yours by asking for one of their business cards first.

Here's How:

1. When you meet someone, at a network gathering, business meeting, social gathering, or on the street; after you say hello and engage in little conversation, always ask them for their business card. They will be delighted that you asked and proud to give it to you. After this it will be very natural for them to ask you for yours, but if they do not ask, never offer it. When you think about it, putting your card in the face of someone who did not ask would be perceived as being a little pushy at this point. But not to worry, you still have their card and so you can still stay in contact with them.


2. When you receive their card, always thank them for it. Read over what it says front and back. Ask them any questions that genuinely interests you about them or their business after you have looked over their card. Make sure all the contact information is there: name, business name, phone number, address, and email. If there is a piece of information that is missing, ask them for it so that you can add it to the card.


3. Ask them for their permission to contact them. It is good professional manners to ask their permission, even though it is assumed that they would want you to contact them. It is a way of being respectful and you will be remembered for it.


4. When and if they ask you for your card, politely hand them one of yours and be ready to respond to any questions that they may have. If you have coined your own "opener" then this might be a good time to use it. However, never try to sell them anything at this point unless they flat out tell you they want to buy something from you. Remember, the reason why they asked you for your card was probably more out of politeness because you had asked for theirs. There is no need to go into selling mode here, you really only want to connect with the person at this point.


5. Within 24-48 hours send them a note. Always have on hand some blank note cards. These are available almost anywhere they sell cards at and they are sold by the box. If you want to have one with a design on it, that's o.k., but make sure that it is a neutral design. Inside the card handwrite a short note to them stating that you appreciated having made their acquaintance. If you can recall something from the conversation this will help to personalize it even more.


6. Place your business card inside the note card, hand-address the envelope using the information from their business card and drop it in the mailbox. The person on the receiving end will be very honored that you thought of them enough to take the time to handwrite a card and "mail" it instead of "emailing" it. Also, people love to receive cards and they can tell that it is a card even before they open it by the size and feel of the envelope. Don't be surprised if they contact you back with a thank you!


7. Keep their card in an organized file for future reference. If your contacts are also organized in an address book kept on your computer, then also add their information there. If they do contact you back to thank you for the card you sent, if it is appropriate, ask them if you can add them to your email list. Always ask permission, not only because it is respectful to do so, but also because with emails you don't want to be accused of spamming. If they give their permission, do not abuse this privilege. Send only emails that are short and informative to them.

Parapharased from: http://sales.about.com/od/leadgeneration/ht/howbizcards.htm

You're not selling world peace

Unless you are Gandhi, you are probably not selling world peace.  So unless you are selling the cure for a major disease, lighten up.

Please, would you want to do business with a stiff? (no funeral industry jokes here)

I wouldnt either.  Its okay to lighten things up and have a little fun.  If you are a sales manager, have fun with your team, and if your a sales person one of the best things you can do for rapport is to have a laugh with a client/prospect.

If you take yourself too seriously, no one else will.

Enjoy your day and enjoy what you do.  You might not be selling world peace, but you can enjoy the day and and have a little fun along the way.

Don't send December-ish holiday cards!

How many greeting cards do you get around the holidays?

This year, take notice of the ones that come in with gold embossed stamps on them. How personal! I’d rather get nothing than one of those. That says, “You are one of a thousand people in on a list.”

Want to be different?

Send a Thanksgiving card instead. Thanksgiving is the last great American holiday. It is non-denominational, festive, and evokes thoughts of Norman Rockwell. It also puts you ahead of all other year end greetings.

Try it.

*from the good folks at http://www.printtec.com/