January. It was pegged to be great. Sales people all sat around on January 1st, claiming this was going to be their best year. They had the best intentions and they were eager. Then January 10th rolled around, and soon after January 20th. Many realized they were no further ahead than they were at this time in 2010.
Yikes.
What now? Resort back to bad habits, excuse making and the blame game? Not if you want to be a true Sales Professional.
I have representatives who are cutting corners, they have excuses, they point fingers, cause problems and are overly aggressive. Dealing with people who are on route to becoming true Sales Professionals is tasking at times. As the saying goes, that's the cost of doing business.
The career you have chosen is laden with opportunity. Many others before you have failed. They sit around and tell stories of how they used to do sales. They talk about how tough it is, how unforgiving cold calling is and how they could of been successful at it if their boss/company/customers would have only _________.
Being a successful Sales Professional comes down to you. Only you. If you can't convince yourself of the number one rule, how could you possibly persuade others to listen to anything you say?
Many people choose another career path because they are mentally weak. Unless you are highly educated or have a great idea, it's tough to find a trade that offers the freedom and financial gain of being a true Sales Professional. If you want to be in this business, you need to understand that it is not always going to go your way. This is an art and not a science. All you can do is remember, whether you win or lose in sales, it is all your fault. Sound bleak? Sometimes it can be.
That's the cost of doing business.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Paint By Numbers Greatness? Or Picasso Greatness?
Everyday someone in my network will ask, ‘Josh what sales book should I read?’ or ‘Haddon, what sales book had the biggest impact on your career?’ Today, someone emailed me who I had never met, asking what books I would suggest a new sales person read. So I figured I'd reply here, since this blog is how they found me.
By no means do I want to sound cynical or holier than thou, but a majority of the ‘sales’ books out there are garbage. I’ve read 100’s of these ‘sales’ books. Early in my career I bought every book I could get my hands on. All the books promised methods, systems and strategies to guarantee riches and success.
About two years ago I realized that I will never be truly great while using someone else’s verbiage, system, script or ‘master process’. Those crutches and tricks and scripts helped me be better than the average Jane, but I soon noticed I had reached a plateau.
I have a book in my library that is titled, ‘Sales Scripts That Sell’. This same guy might as well of made a book called, ‘Book Titles That Sell’ because the best sales training I received from that book is that people buy when they perceive you have a solution to their problem. Back then, my problem was I wanted to sell more, in turn, I bought the book.
I constantly talk about becoming a true Sales Professional not a typical salesperson. Therefore, wouldn’t it be counter-intuitive to walk around sounding the same way every other salesperson who bought that book sounds? Of course it would be!
When you first start on your path from typical salesperson to Sales Professional; morally sound, respectful, brand creating, referral producing sales is an art, and not a science. Once you’ve mastered the art, it appears to those on the outside looking in, as a science. Many art forms become quasi-sciences once mastered and preformed very well. Look back in history to when philosophy branched off into a science we now call psychology.
Pick three people from history who were considered ‘great’ at what they do. In almost every case you’ll find that they had similar traits. They were creative, focussed and had passion. Becoming a great Sales Professional requires the same three traits. Now, some may argue that you can in fact learn those three traits by reading a book. I would differ.
Napoleon Hill talked about having a ‘master mind alliance’. The saying goes, “Forty years from today, you will be the same person you are now, expect for the books you read and the people you meet.” I’d advocate that 40% if the people you meet, 10% are the books you read, 50% is what you choose to emulate from the people you have met or the books you have read.
Breaking down the quote my way should inspire hope. Hope that you do have a controlling share in your destiny. If you want change and you want to succeed, start changing – something. Anything. While you are at it, introduce yourself to some new people. Step out of what you know and experience something new. Familiar surroundings will almost always produce familiar results.
Typical salespeople are for the most part are actors. They recite old ‘lines’, ‘openers’ and ‘closes’, They paint by numbers. These are the guys who walk into my office at 45 years old needing a job while talking about how they are ‘the best’. They have all the ‘tricks’ of a weathered salesperson but lack of the traits of a great Sales Professional.
If you want to be the best Sales Professional possible, find a mentor and shadow him or her. While reading the hundreds of books I mentioned I read above, I used to spend thousands of hours with the top sales people in my first sales job. I would hang on their every word. When the time came that I had learned all I could from them, I found new people to absorb information from. I read books, but for every book I read, I learned 10 times more from interacting with the great minds around me.
Ty Cobb re-invented baseball.
Einstein would sit for days just thinking.
Picasso didn’t paint by numbers.
Be yourself.
Sales is a conversation, not scripted dialog.
Find a mentor or at least someone better than you to learn from.
Take some risks.
Put yourself into unfamiliar situations.
Stop listening to what your friends, family or co-workers say. Unless they are saying, ‘you are unique and beautiful; and correct to want to shoot for the stars, because every other successful person in history was also only flesh and blood, just as you are’. If they are saying anything else, forget it.
And if you have time during all of this, read books that promote character building more than you read books that promise wealth.
By no means do I want to sound cynical or holier than thou, but a majority of the ‘sales’ books out there are garbage. I’ve read 100’s of these ‘sales’ books. Early in my career I bought every book I could get my hands on. All the books promised methods, systems and strategies to guarantee riches and success.
About two years ago I realized that I will never be truly great while using someone else’s verbiage, system, script or ‘master process’. Those crutches and tricks and scripts helped me be better than the average Jane, but I soon noticed I had reached a plateau.
I have a book in my library that is titled, ‘Sales Scripts That Sell’. This same guy might as well of made a book called, ‘Book Titles That Sell’ because the best sales training I received from that book is that people buy when they perceive you have a solution to their problem. Back then, my problem was I wanted to sell more, in turn, I bought the book.
I constantly talk about becoming a true Sales Professional not a typical salesperson. Therefore, wouldn’t it be counter-intuitive to walk around sounding the same way every other salesperson who bought that book sounds? Of course it would be!
When you first start on your path from typical salesperson to Sales Professional; morally sound, respectful, brand creating, referral producing sales is an art, and not a science. Once you’ve mastered the art, it appears to those on the outside looking in, as a science. Many art forms become quasi-sciences once mastered and preformed very well. Look back in history to when philosophy branched off into a science we now call psychology.
Pick three people from history who were considered ‘great’ at what they do. In almost every case you’ll find that they had similar traits. They were creative, focussed and had passion. Becoming a great Sales Professional requires the same three traits. Now, some may argue that you can in fact learn those three traits by reading a book. I would differ.
Napoleon Hill talked about having a ‘master mind alliance’. The saying goes, “Forty years from today, you will be the same person you are now, expect for the books you read and the people you meet.” I’d advocate that 40% if the people you meet, 10% are the books you read, 50% is what you choose to emulate from the people you have met or the books you have read.
Breaking down the quote my way should inspire hope. Hope that you do have a controlling share in your destiny. If you want change and you want to succeed, start changing – something. Anything. While you are at it, introduce yourself to some new people. Step out of what you know and experience something new. Familiar surroundings will almost always produce familiar results.
Typical salespeople are for the most part are actors. They recite old ‘lines’, ‘openers’ and ‘closes’, They paint by numbers. These are the guys who walk into my office at 45 years old needing a job while talking about how they are ‘the best’. They have all the ‘tricks’ of a weathered salesperson but lack of the traits of a great Sales Professional.
If you want to be the best Sales Professional possible, find a mentor and shadow him or her. While reading the hundreds of books I mentioned I read above, I used to spend thousands of hours with the top sales people in my first sales job. I would hang on their every word. When the time came that I had learned all I could from them, I found new people to absorb information from. I read books, but for every book I read, I learned 10 times more from interacting with the great minds around me.
Ty Cobb re-invented baseball.
Einstein would sit for days just thinking.
Picasso didn’t paint by numbers.
Be yourself.
Sales is a conversation, not scripted dialog.
Find a mentor or at least someone better than you to learn from.
Take some risks.
Put yourself into unfamiliar situations.
Stop listening to what your friends, family or co-workers say. Unless they are saying, ‘you are unique and beautiful; and correct to want to shoot for the stars, because every other successful person in history was also only flesh and blood, just as you are’. If they are saying anything else, forget it.
And if you have time during all of this, read books that promote character building more than you read books that promise wealth.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Never Slow Down.
Today was our team's first full day back from holidays. This morning's meeting was a special place to be. It's nice to see determination and excitement in people's eyes at eight in the morning. Especially since December was below par by my standards.
We spoke at length about what we learned last year and how we can apply what we had learned this year. They had this new, 'I'm going to take 2011 by storm' look in their eyes. By nine o'clock I was certain these men had evolved into Sales Professionals. They started making their follow up calls and I could hear in their voices they meant business.
Around one o'clock, I could see the determination and excitement fade in some of them. They looked like the 2010 versions of themselves. It was as if their 2011 dreams had been defeated in only three hours of follow up calls. (Which in the sales world is really only about 20 calls.)
I sat there in shock. You can probably tell I'm rarely at a loss for words. In this case though, how was I to point out to these grown men that they had just given up on their dreams of a great year because of the immediate results of 3 hours? Less than .008 of the year!
The key trait of a person who is great at something is their ability to always keep moving. Like the shark, who's intake of oxygen would cease if ever they were to stop moving, a true great-anything is one who finds a way to keep moving, no matter what. I told one member of my team today to never slow down, 'keep pushing' I said. His eyes lit up. He knew what I meant, he knew what he had to do and he did it.
My best friend says to me once a month when I ask how he is, 'I'm just moving the ball forward man, moving the ball forward.' It wasn't until today that I realized how important that expression is in life. To see your wildest dreams come true, you must always keep momentum, never lose hope and have a short memory.
Strive on no matter what. The marathon runner began with a single walk around the block.
Believe that you are capable of anything - and you will be.
Learn from your mistakes and quickly forget them. Failure is just research.
With the whole world moving around us, if you're standing still, you're going backwards.
We spoke at length about what we learned last year and how we can apply what we had learned this year. They had this new, 'I'm going to take 2011 by storm' look in their eyes. By nine o'clock I was certain these men had evolved into Sales Professionals. They started making their follow up calls and I could hear in their voices they meant business.
Around one o'clock, I could see the determination and excitement fade in some of them. They looked like the 2010 versions of themselves. It was as if their 2011 dreams had been defeated in only three hours of follow up calls. (Which in the sales world is really only about 20 calls.)
I sat there in shock. You can probably tell I'm rarely at a loss for words. In this case though, how was I to point out to these grown men that they had just given up on their dreams of a great year because of the immediate results of 3 hours? Less than .008 of the year!
The key trait of a person who is great at something is their ability to always keep moving. Like the shark, who's intake of oxygen would cease if ever they were to stop moving, a true great-anything is one who finds a way to keep moving, no matter what. I told one member of my team today to never slow down, 'keep pushing' I said. His eyes lit up. He knew what I meant, he knew what he had to do and he did it.
My best friend says to me once a month when I ask how he is, 'I'm just moving the ball forward man, moving the ball forward.' It wasn't until today that I realized how important that expression is in life. To see your wildest dreams come true, you must always keep momentum, never lose hope and have a short memory.
Strive on no matter what. The marathon runner began with a single walk around the block.
Believe that you are capable of anything - and you will be.
Learn from your mistakes and quickly forget them. Failure is just research.
With the whole world moving around us, if you're standing still, you're going backwards.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
The Morning After
Today is a new year. A time for triumph. A time to eliminate all of the bad habits you have been practicing for the last 365 days. It is true that New Years Day signifies a new beginning. Most people use this day to make a ‘resolution’. We use today to plan our tomorrow for the better. The fact is though, today is just another day.
Your tomorrow, your next week, your next month will not be any better by simply making a resolution. Waking up and saying, ‘I will be healthier’ or ‘I will make more money’ are the same mantras you said to yourself the last time you were out of breath or the last time your paycheque wasn’t enough to cover an unexpected expense. The easiest part of goal setting is coming up with the goal. If you’re like most people who learn from making mistakes, you probably made a new resolution weekly or even daily last year. I know for a fact I did. New Years Day is filled with hope and resolve (and in many cases hangovers). I made a December 31st resolution to not start 2011 with a hangover. So far I’m perfect when it comes to resolutions achieved. In addition, I decided that 2011 was going to be a great year. The greatest year of my life. I’ve made this very easy to achieve by breaking my grand New Year goal down; into bite sized, manageable pieces that I can chip away at day by day. I suggest you do the same.
What is a great year anyway? It is just 365 great days strung together. That sounds simple enough to me. 2010 was very good in its’ own right. So how have I ensured that this year will be better? I broke down the three main areas of my life I want to do my best at. The first being my health (physical and mental), secondly my self (including my relationships with friends and family) and third my personal wealth (increase earnings, increase savings, increase free time).
Goal setting is mostly about planning. The goal is what you reach after you properly implement your plan. When I get in the car to drive to an appointment and I have never been there before, I will look at Google Maps or my GPS and plan my route to get there. If my appointment is at 1234 Main Street, Toronto, Ontario – I don’t just jump in my car with the goal to arrive at that appointment on time and just drive around hoping I get there. That would be impractical. I plan my route to get to where I want to be at a certain time. The same goes for your goals this year.
By writing out the 20-30 daily small actions, that I will take every single day this year, to improve upon the three areas of my life noted above; I am 15 hours into having the best year of my life. If you improve one area of your life a mere 1% every single day, how great will that area of your life be in 30 days? 300 days?
This 2011, instead of saying you area going to do something, just do it. Become a person of action. I promise you, win or lose people of action live better lives. Enjoy your hangover today; I’m on my way to being 365% better for 2012.
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