Mind Your Own Business.

Building a true sales team is a heck of a task these days. My demographic especially, is the worst demographic of sales people ever born. We're lazy, unfocussed, spoiled and uncultured. Show me a 20-30 year old who is a hard working and I'll show you 1000 who aren't. Show me a 45-55 year old who didn't hustle their butt off when they were 25-35 and I'll show 1000 who did. What happened? My opinion; Video games and unrealistic Reality TV.

As I weed through resumes on the weekend I find one common theme, many former business owners are applying for sales jobs. Great! I used to think. Business owners are hustlers. The motivated, big picture thinking, creative people I've been looking for... - In most cases I couldn't have been more wrong. Many of these men and women were beaten up and wimps. They feel like failures and they acted the part as well. When I asked why they were looking into sales as a career there was one major common theme; THEY WANTED TO RELAX. THEY WANTED TO NOT HAVE THE STRESS OF HAVING THE BE SUCCESSFUL.

So let me get this straight; You've walked into a sales job so you didn't have to do what it takes to be successful? This isn't a government job pal, go pound sand!

Being a professional salesperson is in every way, shape and form running your own business. I tell my team all the time that they have the luxury of being entreprenures that already have the brand, office, supplies, stock, service team and admin support - all they have to do is sell the best product in our industry. You wake up every single day deciding whether you will be 'a poor', 'a good', 'a great' or 'the best and most successful' business owner. I strive every single day to be the latter, why doesn't everyone? Are you?

Ask any successful small business owner where they get most of their business and they will likely say, word of mouth or referrals. If they say the ad in the local paper or fax blasting, I'll eat my shoes. Look around at all the salespeople you know. Who gets the most referrals? Who has the best relationships with their client when the order is made?

Wake up! It's the same person.

Now, think about the barber, mechanic, tailor or any other provider of a product or service you use every single time you need something. Do they have the lowest price? Are they members of the Better Business Bureau? Do they have 24 hour turnaround time? Are they open 24 hours a day? Maybe. But does that matter? Nope.

You continue to go back to these people/places because of how they treat you and make you feel. When was the last time you recommended someone go to a barber just because it was open twenty four hours a day? We recommend people go deal with people that we liked and that did a good job.

Just doing a good job isn't good enough for repeat business. What is enough to get people coming back and sending others? Doing a good job while making the person you are dealing with feel great. Most sales are emotionally driven. I don't know a single woman who has ever had a 'happy period' but Kotex still emotionally sells them on that.

Whether you like it or not, you are running a business. Where do successful small businesses get the majority of their orders from? You should already know.

If you clicked on the link, you need to master retaining the information you read before attempting to become a true sales professional.

So, you can beg your organization for longer service hours, faster turn around times, lower pricing or more advertising... Or you can treat engage people while treating them with respect and let the bad sales reps ask for that stupid stuff. See you at the top!

Kicking ass, not kissing it.

You walk into a Wal-Mart to buy something and you are just a customer. As a customer you feel you are entitled to certain things. Generally a quality product and quality service at a price you are willing to pay. If something doesn’t go right, many of us ask for a manager to voice our concern. I do this often, and generally to some level of success with a red vested middle manager (all other employees at Wal-Mart wear blue vests). Many times by the end of the conversation I have the manager laughing, engaged and ready to do almost anything I ask to keep ME as a customer. The reason for this is simple; She is also a customer and she knows how it feels to be treated poorly or have something she bought be defective and not up to par. I end up getting what I want, as long as I being it to her attention with finesse, understanding and compassion.

Let us take that one step further, not only is this manager also a customer, she is a person, a normal human being. Someone who pays bills, gets parking tickets, eats, sleeps, cries, laughs and fights with her husband. Imagine that! A middle manager who is also a human being. The truth is when you are wearing your ‘customer hat’ you are very comfortable talking to this middle manager. Now, let’s look at what happens when you talk to a middle manager wearing your ‘salesperson hat’. You are over polite, meek, dry, boring, uncreative, and nervous. You don’t engage, you’re not funny and you sound just like the last salesperson who they talked to. You product puke and data dump all the while making it nearly impossible to establish a real human to human relationship. The words, “I’m not interested at this time.” simply means, “You’re not interesting to me bucko!”

All your niceties about your product and company history, all your insincere manners and all the boring banter you had, got you nothing. You’re a kiss ass salesperson who walked out of an appointment with no signature, no cheque and no real connection with the decision maker. Sound familiar?For some reason when salespeople are trying to make a sale, they forget that managers, decision makers and business owners are all just regular people. What do regular people like to do? Have a laugh with other regular people. They like to golf or garden, eat and drink, have sex and travel. They want to be engaged. They want to be heard. They want to feel alive and real. They want to deal with people who are real. If they wanted to talk to salespeople all day they would not have a no-soliciting sign, a receptionist who acts as a gatekeeper and they would go to timeshare presentations every night.

Want to start kicking ass in the sales world? Stop kissing the prospects ass and be real. Every single day I walk the line with my customers and I push my sales team to do the same. When was the last time you had a prospect talk to you about something real? I have had customers rant to me for twenty minutes about ex-wives, taxes, family members and sex lives. The rants I remember the best though are the ones where they tell me stories about some pathetic salesperson they’ve dealt with. Imagine that, they start putting down some other salesperson because I’ve made them feel comfortable and they no longer see me as just a salesperson.

Do you want to be the butt of a salesperson joke your prospects are telling or do you want to kick butt?

Actions, not words.

Three weeks ago I asked a colleague of mine for a professional favour. It was a very simple task that required at most, 15 minutes of organized thought. The person responded; "NO PROBLEM".

Here we are three weeks from then and I still have yet to received what I asked for. This morning I spent 7 minutes doing it myself.

How many of you salespeople are in the business of saying, 'No problem', 'For sure', 'Consider it done', 'I will have that for you on delivery' or the most insincere and most common, 'It would be my pleasure'? I'll bet over half the time you don't follow through. Why would you? It's easy to blame service, operations, the customer, your sales manager or anyone other than yourself. The fact is, when you say you are going to do something for a customer and that something doesn't happen, you've lost. You've lost some trust, some credibility, practically all chance of being referred and in short you've lost future money.

Now you're thinking, how I've lost money Haddon? Well;

TRUST + CREDIBILITY = REFERRALS
and
REFERRALS = MONEY.

Therefore you've lost money.

Think about that, MONEY! The very reason you have a car, house, nice things and a pot belly. MONEY - the root of all evil and modern innovation, the thing you work so hard (and dumb) for. MONEY the thing you dream of having more of and claim to be doing everything you can to get.

Wait, no you aren't. You're just lying to yourself.

By not exerting the extra effort and spending the extra time, you've lost future sales, repeat orders and lay down referrals. You are giving money away to the smarter sales person. The more organized salesperson. The salesperson who is a person of action!

If I had Loonie (proudly Canadian) for every time someone told me they were going to do something and they didn't do it, I would have more money than I'd know what to do with. Now, what if I told you that if early in my career I would have actually done everything I ever told someone I would do for them, I'd have even more money than that?

The point is, whether you are new to the sales game, an old dog with a pipeline the size of Alberta (Texas for you Americans) or someone who just switched to a new industry; a sure way of getting to the top is by doing what you say you are going to do. Under promise and over deliver - you've certainly heard that since you started your career. The problem with age old sayings is that they often fall on deaf ears.

Let me suggest this; If you promise it, look up the word promise in a dictionary and act accordingly. Otherwise look up the word failure and prepare to accept that as the definition or who you are.

You don't get what you don't ask for.

Quick tips for closing any deal/getting any order.

Too many of us get so caught up with talking about our product or service up front that we forget the purpose of us being there: Selling. There’s an old saying that says, ‘Telling is not selling.’ Don’t data-dump. Remember that on your next call.

How many prospects do you think are sitting at their home or business right now thinking, ‘I sure hope today is the day the __________ salesperson shows up so I can commit to spending X number of dollars on a product I’m not sure is any better than what I’ve got.’? NONE. People need to be pushed to changed. If salespeople were supposed to stand in front of prospects and just tell them about their product, then leave, your company would just send a DVD. Your job is to build value and credibility and then ASK FOR THE SALE.

In order to be successful at sales you must assume at all times that the prospect loves what you are saying and is ready to buy. Be confident but not cocky. Be relaxed while being focussed. Make them laugh without losing professional credibility. Be the greatest but appear non-threatening.

The saying, ‘The meek shall inherit the earth’ is dead wrong. If they do inherit anything, it will simply be what is left over from those who were on their game and came to win. Practice any system other than confident, relaxed, funny and focussed and your paycheque will reflect it. If you have a comfort zone, lose it or you’ll be lost in the world of the sales slump.

Three simple closing methods.

Age old, keep it simple close.
In the old days ‘handshake’ deals were common. In today’s world, not so much. However, the handshake is commonly used in business before the inking of the agreement. The handshake is non-threatening and everyone instinctively will shake your hand if you extend yours. It comes from the days of war and symbolizes ‘I come with no weapons’. I use the handshake close as often as possible. It is the best close to use for new salespeople because you never really have to ask for the business and yet it defines the moment you have a client and not a prospect. I would finish outlining the positives of what I am offering. Then, say something casual like, ‘So as you can see you’re getting a superior product to what you currently have.” Then, reach my hand out and say nothing. If he shakes my hand I say, ‘Good, I can have it installed/delivered/shipped Friday’ and start writing up the agreement. Or if you want to be a little softer you can reach your hand out and say, “So, we have a deal?” or “Well done, you’ve got a deal.”

Tie Down Close.
This close, like any close involves the salesperson already assuming that the prospect is buying. Why? BECAUSE THEY ALL BUY.
After you’ve explained your product and handled some of the minor objections you simply say things like:
“So would you like it delivered Friday or Monday.”
“I can do the ABC product/service for the $X/day or would you like the 123 product/service for the same price?”
“I was just in the warehouse and know we have both colours in stock, would you like the black one or the white one?

After asking these questions and the prospect answers, feel free to stick your hand out and say, “Great, we’ll install it Friday” or “Great. Welcome to the Sample Corp family.” Or whatever you want. Something that signifies they have taken possession so the transition to doing the paperwork is smooth.

FEEL, FELT AND FOUND.
Perhaps this is a closing technique; perhaps it is a way to overcome objects, whatever this is, when I learned it, my sales sky-rocketed. These three powerful words will change the way you see getting the sale. NO MATTER WHAT A PROSPECTS SAYS…..The simple words, “Feel”, “Felt” and “Found” are the answer.
“Mr. Customer, I know exactly how you feel, others have felt the same way, but after using my product they found…..”

Example: “It sounds great, but I’m not ready to change yet.”

“Mr. Jones, that’s not the first time I’ve heard that, I know exactly how you feel. In fact, many of my happy clients felt the same way when I walked in off the street sweating and out of breath. I nudged them a bit and earned their business and what they found was that our product/service provided much more than they expected.”

If you've been in sales for a few years or more you will quickly realize that this is just scratching the surface of the psychology of the close. However, the above is intended to assist novice-intermediate sales people fake it until they make it, or so to speak. You'll find a constant theme throughout these posts, closing is great, but opening is where hte money is.

Two ears, one mouth.

Salespeople are notorious for talking too much. At times, I'm even guilty of the sales person's cardinal sin: talking past the sale.

How do we stop this? How do we know when it is time to 'pitch' and when it is time ask questions. First of all, it is NEVER time to 'pitch'. Stop 'pitching' and start asking. 'You have two ears and one mouth' my mentor used to tell me. What this means is, at a very minimum, you should be listening twice as much as you're speaking.

How many times have you, at your prospects first sign of interest, started with your pitch and ended with them saying, 'Sounds great, let me think about it.' Too many times.

It is time to stop pitching and start asking questions. I'll discuss how easy this is to do in my next post.

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