Hypocratic Oath.

Veteran Sales Rep: "In 2002 I was the top rep in my organization 8 out of 12 months."

Me: "That's awesome, what's happened between then and now?"

(The flood gates open)

Veteran Sales Rep:

-The economy these last few years has been brutal.
-Prospects just don't speak to sales people anymore. They research everything online.
-I'm doing the same things I did then, I have no idea why it's not working.

We have a sign on the door to our office that says,

"Positive People Only! Negative, excuse making, complainers will be removed. Please keep your personal problems in the parking lot."

I have no time for excuses. I have less time for whining.

The economy isn't the problem! You are. I promise you that in every legitimate sales organization in the world, there was always a salesperson that exceeded their company dictated goals. If not, those companies need to hire someone to come in and shake things up. My best 18 months as a Sales Professional was from 2008 to 2009. Now tell me, weren't those the times the economy was at it's worst? I like a beer or two a few times a week. If there is such a spending freeze going on, how come every bar I walk into are filled with people spending money? When the economy slumps, you just have to get more creative. You have to start working SMARTER.

Prospects don't speak to sales people, the research everything on the Internet and then they buy. This is partly true. What do people think of when they hear the words 'sales person'? We've been over this. Your goal is to NOT be that salesperson. You need to position yourself to be seen as a friend, a trusted advisor, a knowledgeable consultant - a true Sales Professional. Why not bring a competitive analysis with you on every sales call? Clients love that. Cell phone companies and insurance agencies have been doing this for years. They all tell future customers to go to their website and compare. What a great idea! Imagine that, using a simple yet effective technique that has worked for years. All you had to do was use your brain.

If you're doing the same routine you did 8 years ago, you are doomed to fail. In almost every other industry, companies mandate that employees take courses that bring them up to date on a variety of subjects. If practically everyone else is constantly learning and evolving - why are you doing the same thing you did in 8 years ago, or 20 years ago for that matter? My mentor used to tell us that one of the most important actions you must do each and every day is read. If you're not learning everyday, you are standing still. How many people do you know that are able to move forward while standing still?

It's not what you know in sales, its whether you implement what you know. We all know we shouldn't smoke, but some of us do. We all know we should eat better and exercise often, but some of us our overweight. We all know we should be learning more about our industry daily, but many of you choose to stay stagnant.

True Sales Professionals do whatever it takes. They learn daily and evolve into the person their market will bear. It's not enough to KNOW something, you have to practice it daily. Now that you KNOW what to do, go and DO whatever it takes. Otherwise, you are a hypocrite.

Do you believe in Santa Claus?

There is an old adage that goes something like, 'They don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care.' I guess some sales guy who hasn't sold a product without the help of a PR Firm and a marketing campaign thought that was a clever phrase to say when addressing a group of other salespeople at a convention or something. (By the way, the great Josh Haddon is available for any speaking events.)

There is another adage that says, 'The hardest door for a cold calling salesperson to open is the car door.' This one is discussing how even good salespeople fail because they dread cold calling, so they waste time or 'drive around' all day instead of prospecting.

For every hundred or so of these catchy phrases I read, I appreciate about one of them. Let's take a look at theses two:

Wouldn't actually CARING about your customers mean that you believed in your product so much you would stop at nothing to tell them about it? I always tell my salespeople that I will give them a reference for any career on the planet if they resign, and tell me it is because they don't believe in our product.

The number one rule of being a top Sales Professional is to believe in what you provide to your customers. So if one of these quoted sales guys would just say, "BELIEVE IN YOURSELF AND YOUR PRODUCT OR MOVE ON." We wouldn't need cute little adages like the ones above.

If you believed in yourself and your product you would:

(I encourage you to make your own list of what you would do differently if you truly believed in yourself and your product)

-Not hit the snooze button when your alarm goes off.
-Seize everyday as a chance to help others and be the best you can be.
-Tell everyone you know that could benefit from it, about your product.
-Start early, leave late.
-Use the product yourself.
-Receive a testimonial, written or videotaped, from everyone customer you have.
-Be happier than you could possibly imagine.
-ETC...

I CAN sell anything and HAVE sold everything. In the last decade I've been in the best on every team I was on, no matter what the product was. However, sometimes I was only the best by one or two units a month. The times when I have blown the rest of my team out of the water, were the times when I truly believed in what I was selling. If my mentor has said it once, he has said it one thousand times - 'We transfer belief for a living.' Maybe he knew how genius that really was. If don't have belief, you have nothing to transfer.


I'll leave you with a fun little adage my Mom used to say to us every December when we were kids, 'If you don't believe, you don't receive.' I thought sales is like Halloween, but I guess it is also like Christmas. Hmm, life is a sale.

You're a Diaper Wearing Child!

Well, you used to be. You used to be in diapers. You didn't know anything was wrong with that until someone told you so. If it wasn't for your parents choosing to potty train you, you might still be running around with fecal crap in your pants.

Gross right? I know.

The point is, you used to be alot of things. That is what is so amazing about life, which is one long sale, at any point you can choose to stop being those things and evolve. Think back to high school. I'd bet that most of you would be described by your high school peers as totally different people than you are now. For example; I know there are people that would describe me as anything from a devout Catholic Alter-boy; to the best sales manager in the world; to the worst sales manager in the world; to a Jock; to a drug addicted thief. All are right in their minds - yet both are dead wrong today.

Everyday in our personal and professional lives we are allotted a fresh start. A brand new day to learn about the world and learn about ourselves. Last week you might have taken long lunches and gone home early, well then last week you were a typical salesperson. This week you can choose to eat on the run and work until 6PM. By doing that, this week you are on your way to becoming a true Sales Professional.

You are what you consistently do, not what you've consistently done.

Practice good habits, learn everyday and do your best. You will not become who you want to be overnight. However, you can start becoming that person any time you choose.

As my mentor always says; 'When's the best time to do something?...NOW'

Full Of It Fridays.

Fridays are notorious for being the day salespeople start late and leave early (Especially in Business to Business Sales) - that's if they decide to work at all. Our team is lucky in the sense that they have a Sales Manager who has made every mistake they have made, or will make in the future. Our team is also lucky because I generally know what they are thinking before they think it. I'm a realist - sometimes to a fault.

Every Friday I hear the same lame excuses for why a salesperson isn't working.

- "Josh, I cold called for a few hours this morning and no decision makers are working."
- "Josh, every business I've called went to voicemail."
- "Josh, you know Friday's are horrible for cold calling."
- "Come on, if you ran a business would you be working today. It's gorgeous outside."

Salespeople like the ones above are full-of-it. I've been there though. Early in my career I pleaded with my Sales Manager to let me leave early. I came up with way better excuses than the ones above and the sad part is - my Sales Manager's either bought it or didn't care enough to argue with me.

After being a typical salesperson for a while, going into debt and working too hard; I now see Friday's as fun days. They are the days I write most of my orders. Let me put it this way; all week you've been following up, pitching, tweaking proposals and hammering away - Friday is like the universal 'get 'er done day' (Excuse the Fargo-ian reference). For most people, everything that was on the to-do list Monday, gets scratched off on Fridays. If you're persistent, available and have a good weekly value proposition; you'll ink loads of orders on Fridays.

As with everything in sales; If you THINK you won't make money on Fridays - you won't. If you THINK you will make money on Friday's - you will. It's 11:55 Friday morning and I have a rep who finalized three orders this morning and a another rep who finalized two.

I'll write a piece on the weekly value proposition next week. People generally want to have less things to worry about and they want to have less on their plate. By combining people's human nature with a weekly value proposition; Fridays are FANTASTIC selling days for true Sales Professionals.

Think I'm full of it? What did you do this morning?

Biggest Mistakes Salespeople Make.

Donald Trump said, "Without passion you have no enthusiasm, without enthusiasm you have nothing."

If ever someone is a poster child for failing upwards, Donald Trump is. He has made lots of mistakes. We make mistakes every single day. Learning from them is great but some mistakes cannot be undone.

In sales, there are three mistakes that guarantee you are not successful:

1) Not realizing how important your attitude is to your success. You wake up every morning and you have more choices than you realize. You can decide to make $100 that day or $1000. You can decide to hit the snooze button, not shave or watch Sports Center. I haven't hit the snooze button on my alarm clock in 4 years! Have you? Your attitude dictates your success - no question about it. One hundred years ago or so, Napoleon Hill (Sign Up for the Daily Newsletter) wrote something like - Whatever the mind can believe and conceive it can achieve. Ain't that the truth! A huge part of being a successful Sales Professional is thinking you can and expecting positive results.

2) Getting into sales for the money. Again, The Donald is right. If you don't love what you do, you will never be as successful as you could be. You will never achieve all the goals you've set for yourself. Passionless sales people don't make anywhere near the money an enthusiastic and passionate Sales Professional does. You have to love this profession to be the best. Being a Sales Professional is like being the driver of a roller coaster - it's intense, exhilarating and fun as hell. If you're in sales for the money - QUIT. Go be a lawyer or lobbyist.

3) Excuse making and blaming others. If you are the type of person who always finds a way to pass the buck, sales is not for you. The great thing about being a Sales Professional is that the buck ALWAYS stops at you. You control your destiny. Whiners don't make it in sales. Your computers crashed - whine. Your car broke down - whine. UPS lost the package I sent - whine. Why don't you go back to your Mom's house and live there. Then while you are at it, you can tell your Sales Manager that your dog ate your proposal and the prospect didn't buy because your prices are too high (you baby). Not taking full responsibility for your success doesn't work in sales. In the old days they would say that cold calling outside sales separates the Men from the Boys. Really it just separates the losers from the winners. Making excuses is for losers. So in short, if you don't make it in sales - you're likely a loser.

If this offended you, I feel sorry for your organization. If this inspired you to grow and evolve from a typical salesperson to Great Sales Professional - email me and I have a great position for you.

You're a Scum Bag!

Sales Rep: "I had the worst day ever! This bitch at XYZ Corp. kicked me out of the building and told me she was going to call the cops."

Me: "That happens all the time when you're new at this. I've only been kicked out of maybe three buildings in my entire life. What could you have done differently?"

Sales Rep: "Nothing. I was polite. I told her I was from _______ and then gave her a brochure and started telling her why we are better than their current provider."

Me: "What else did you tell her?"

Sales Rep: "I told her we would save her money and that we've been in the business for 75 years and, I don't know...a bunch of stuff. She kept saying she wasn't interested so I kept telling her why she should give me 5 minutes of her time."

Me: "Did you ask her anything?"

Sales Rep: "Not really, I didn't get the chance. She kicked me out after me being there for only 5 minutes."

I have conversations with salespeople just like the one above about once a week. They give me the same excuses as the week before, take no responsibility for the prospect's actions and they whine. Why do cold calls sometimes end with the salesperson being kicked out of the office? That's easy: BECAUSE THEY ARE A SALESPERSON.

In order to be successful at selling, (or any form of persuasion for that matter) you must be able to mentally trade places with the person you are speaking with. You have to understand their mindset, trade places with them and be sympathetic to what they are feeling.

Every training session I conduct, I ask the salespeople one question: What do people think of when they hear the word 'salesperson'? The answers vary, but the following four come out every single time:
-Pushy/Closers
-Greedy/Only worried about their commission
-Fake
-Slimy/Greasy/Used Car Salesmen/Scumbag etc.

This exercise is beneficial because it is a HUGE wake up call for many salespeople. It shouldn't be. We've all dealt with a salesperson like the one described above. However, for some reason, as soon as you get your business cards many of you adopt a holier than thou persona.

The facts are these:
-You are a salesperson.
-You are stereotyped to be the typical salesperson.
-The typical salesperson is the one we've just defined.
-The typical salesperson is a failure.
-The typical salesperson scares people.
-The typical salesperson puts people on edge and makes them put a wall up.
-The typical salesperson is the last person people want to talk to. You're right up there with ex-wives and mother in laws.

Now that you have this information, it is your goal to separate yourself from every other salesperson out there and become a Sales Professional. You can start separating yourself by asking questions instead of stating facts. Next, you can do the exact opposite of what a your think the typical sales person would do. Every interaction with a customer is a chance to change what they think about you and your profession.

Next time you are with a customer, remember, they hate you and you are a scumbag - until you convince them otherwise.

The wondeful world of Email.

Now that I run a sales division, I have loads of salespeople pitching me on copiers, trade shows, marketing ideas and whatever else people sell these days. I welcome all sales calls and treat each and every one of them with respect. That is until I get an email like this:

Mr. Haddon,

I just wanted to see where we were at with that proposal...

Sincerely,
Joe Schmuck
XYZ Ltd.
"Useless tag line that offends me"
(XXX)-XXX-XXXX


What are salespeople thinking when they hit the send button after putting such little effort into earning my business? The fact of the matter is, they aren't thinking.

Email is a wonderful and easy way to non-invasively keep in touch with prospects and customers. It allows you, the salesperson, to separate yourself from every other salespeople. You can do this with minimal effort.

Sending emails like the one above; or emails with subject lines like 'touching base' or 'checking in', will fast track you to mediocrity. You must add value to the relationship and show you care. You can easily do this by sending links to e-zines, articles and useful tips that will help your customer with their success. Focus on them, not yourself or the sale. Everyone knows salespeople get paid on commission. Your customers know that every time you call, you are calling to check on your paycheque and see when you are going to get money out of them. Eliminate this feeling by caring about the customer's success and you will never worry about your paycheque again.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. How long have you not been the top earner in your organization? I guarantee if you send every single prospect an email that is useful to them, you will have greater success this year, than last.

Here's a link to some useful links, provided by Jeffrey Gitomer, my favourite sales authority.

Two ears, one mouth. 2.0

I mentioned in a previous post that I would touch on the sales practice of asking questions in order to secure an order. I understand that every product/service is unique, however, I truly believe every person is similar when it comes to how they want to buy your product or service. If you ask the right questions, you'll discover that your prospect will basically tell you how they want to be sold.

I was once challenged by my former Vice President of Sales, Sean, to spend an entire day cold calling while only asking questions. I pushed back, citing that this approach would seem salesy, flighty and unnatural. Sitting in a training room this idea seemed far fetched and unrealistic. After two weeks of sub-par selling I decided one Monday morning to give it a shot, thinking what's the worst that can happen?

I wrote 4 face to face, cold, one call orders that day. Which is my best day of cold calling in that industry to date. I was shocked and excited. At the end of the day I reflected and thought that it was just a lucky day. The rest of the week I got 2 more orders after reverting back to my old ways.

The following Monday I gave the 'questions only' method another shot. Guess what? Three more cold, one call orders. Did I become a believer in this method? You bet I did. To this day I practice this method and owe it to Sean for the tens of thousands of dollars in extra commission.

Some of the simple leading questions I use are very basic (Mostly geared for Business to Business sales. Please email me for Business to Consumer sales questions.):

-Hey there! How's business?

-Hi! I know you don't know me from a bag of potato chips, but it's hot out, is it alright if I suck up some of this Air Conditioning while I'm here?

-Hey! What do you folks do here?

-Good Morning! How's it going today?

Now, these are very basic opening lines that are questions. The answers will tell you alot about the person you are dealing with. Once I have established whether I wear my professional or funny-professional hat I continue asking only questions:

-Cool. How long have you worked here? (Alt. How long have you been married? etc)

-Wow, long time. Do you like what you do?

-It's funny, as a receptionist, everyone knows you really run the place. Do your bosses treat you well?

-What's your boss like?

-Is he/she pretty hands on or rarely in the office?

-Is this his/her card? (Alt. What is his or her name?)

Wow! Look how much information I've received. I know if the gatekeeper likes their job, has any clout in the company based on how long they've worked there, I know if they have a sense of humour. I also know what the boss is like, his/her name, management style and likely their sense of humour as well. How great!

The rest of the questions peak interest and qualify. These vary from industry to industry. One part of the question should not change. No matter what you're selling, I suggest asking in a way that activates both their personal and professional brains, like this:

-Are you or your company looking for ways to reduce your carbon footprint?

-Are you or your company looking to reduce costs at all?

-Are you or your company concerned with the new H.S.T.?

-Have you or your company ever dealt with a Worker's Compensation claim?

You can alter the questions to suit your industry. The premise is still the same. By phrasing it as YOU or YOUR company, you have 2 chances per question to peak their interest. Once their interest is peaked, they will then begin to ask you questions. Once you have them interested and asking you questions, you're off to the races.

Remember, "In selling as in medicine, prescription before diagnosis is malpractice."

Who's name is at the top of your company's sales leaderboard?