Getting yourself into the habit of making those prospecting calls today and every day.  Not putting them off until later is the key.  Now let’s take a look at the next two steps of successful prospecting In the last blog, we discussed the first step of prospecting…Do it and do it some more!  .  Let’s talk about beyond picking up the phone.

In prospecting, Attitude is 90% of everything!  Your results from those prospecting calls will be in a direct relationship to your attitude.  Don’t fall into the trap of waiting for your attitude to improve before you begin making those calls.  Attitude affects behaviors and behaviors affect attitude.  If your prospective client gets even a hint that you are in a hurry or being needy – if your client thinks you are being superior or challenging, you can bet your bottom sales dollar that you have just turned him off on the sale.  Be a listener, be helpful, make suggestions that he can turn around to believe they were his ideas.  The trick here is to come across as the potential solution, not as one of those pesky sales people that call every time he is in the middle of something important.  Remember that along the road to sales success, there needs to be a relationship between you and the client…and it is up to you to come across as the kind of person with whom your client would wish to have a relationship.

Going hand in hand with that relationship building is what we like to call the never let them see you coming approach!  Again with the attitude!  A lot of salespeople will leave messages, send e-mails and continually come up with excuses that are disguised as efforts they classify incorrectly as “prospecting”. You might think, “I’ll send some mail before I call, if they are interested they will call back. I’ve sent several e-mails and left messages but they haven’t called back yet.” Attitude counts here. Your goal is contact not activity. Statistics tell us that to reach a decision maker it takes on average 5-7 attempts. Never leave a message until you made 7 attempts. Try calling at different times of the day, on different days of the week, ask the gatekeeper for more info, but never leave a typical sales message. If you look like a salesperson, act like a salesperson, and sound like a salesperson, then you be treated like a salesperson!  Try to remember that, while you are a salesperson, you need to come across in both your messages and emails in a manner that says, “Oh, it’s Charlie!  I would like to talk to him about thus and so.”  There’s two important points in there:  Oh, it’s Charlie – he’s happy to hear from you, and I’d like to talk to him – he thinks he has a reason to want to call you back! Your attitude in your messages has set a positive stage for his attitude and you chances of him returning your calls will go up like a rocket!

It’s all about relationship building!

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Over the past three weeks, we have talked about how appearing needy to your client can derail you sales.  Remember?  Maintain an even keel, don’t appear to be in a rush, make your messages short and concise, listen, and take notes.  Now let’s take a look at perhaps one of the most difficult phases of all sales work – Sales Prospecting.

Prospecting is the LIFE BLOOD OF SALES and often, the most dreaded and feared activity in sales.  Take a day off from prospecting and you get two days off next month, and they will not be very lucrative.

The problem with prospecting for most of us is that it just does not lie within our comfort zones.  Actually, most of us dread that wretched prospecting!  And, when we dread something, well, that’s about the best excuse there is for putting it off.  But, when you put it off for a couple of hours, those hours quickly turn into days and, before you know it, prospecting for new business has been pushed to the back burner, perhaps even off the stove entirely.

Over the next few weeks, we’re going to address the problems with prospecting and give you some fresh – perhaps non-traditional – ways to address prospecting, ideas that will make that dreaded activity much easier to face … and overcome.

Let’s start with the top ten sales prospecting rules, kind of like breaking all this stuff down into a step program!  They are:

1. Prospecting – do it and do it some more.
2. Attitude is 90% of everything
3. Never let them see you coming
4. Give the prospect a reason to get back to you
5. Keep the right focus
6. Schedule prospecting time … and stick to it.
7. Prospect on a daily basis
8. Set traps for yourself
9. Use different strategies
10. Get your clients to do your prospecting for you.

Step one:  Do it and do it some more!  It is too easy to just put this crucial first step of Prospecting off.  When we really don’t want to do something or when we really would rather be doing something else, our mind set is not right.  The thing we are really doing is letting our subconscious rule our conscious behaviors.  Set a goal of making two prospecting calls today before lunch and make them.  No matter what the outcome, you can be pleased with the effort.  You have begun to overcome the fear, dread, whatever you call it, that is connected to making those prospecting calls.  And you have made the first step in a journey of self discovery and improvement that will lead you to find the gold that really lies in them thar hills!

Next blog, we’ll deal with steps two and three…but don’t wait for the blog to show up here.  Start working on making those prospecting calls right away.

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When we mail messages with critical information or too much information before a meeting, it communicates to your client that you are desperate for the meeting…I’m sending this in case we don’t meet this week and I’m in a rush for you to have this.

We’re doing the same thing when we call and leave a phone message.  And it is something we don’t stop to consider before we start speaking.  In fact, we often do that one thing we dislike the most about our own received messages.  We make it too long and try to get too much information into that minute or two we have to say what we have to say!

What we are doing, often without even thinking about it, is appearing needy to our clients.  And, when you appear needy, you begin the process where they want to push you back from taking the control of your business relationship…the decision making control…from them and transferring it to you.

Think about it for a moment.  I know you’ve received messages like what we’re talking about!  And you know the kind of message we mean – the message that communicates that you’re desperate for the meeting or to talk with them.  Perhaps you start out with a greeting that contains detailed information about your title or situation, your schedule for the day or for the week.  You really don’t have to impress the client with how busy you think you are.  You’re probably no busier than your client, but you are conveying your own sense of importance which he or she needs to recognize and get back to you before they do anything else.  The last thing you want to impress upon them is your conception of how fortunate they will be to fit into YOUR schedule!  This, my friend, is totally counterproductive.

Think back through several of the messages you’ve received in the past week or so.  Which ones demonstrated a sense of confidence?  What was it, specifically, that message contained (or didn’t contain) that gave you that impression?  What is it you could do in your message to exude that same confidence without being egocentric to the point of pushing them away?

Keep your messages and your e-mails short, succinct, and open ended.  Remember, you only have two or three lines of text or 8-10 seconds to grab and keep their attention.  After the first 15 seconds or first paragraph, you have come across as being needy and they have begun to lose interest.

Follow the KISS principle.  It works!  And your business image will be the better for it!

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In the last blog, we talked about how talking too much and listening too little can derail your sales by making you appear too needy to your client.  This is the third in a series of how different traits of appearing needy can kill a deal even before you start.  Even if you have wiped your expectations slate clean before you meet with your client, if you successfully hold back the trait of talking too much, you can still find yourself in the same boat – appearing needy by demonstrating your excitement…in need of making this sale!  Perhaps you don’t realize how very needy to make this sale you can appear just by the “normal” trait of demonstrating your enthusiasm for your product or service!

Have you not yourself been in a situation where the salesperson’s excitement and enthusiasm makes you wonder just why he or she is trying so desperately to unload a particular item on you?  Haven’t you ever thought to yourself that he’s just too darn eager and begun to wonder what exactly is wrong with whatever you’re looking at – what hidden problems is he not telling you about?

Yeah, you’re a salesperson too and you can recognize several traits in this guy as he speaks to you about the product.  You notice that his voice has gone up in pitch, perhaps in volume as well.  You notice his body language that is telling you that he’s just a little too much in a hurry.  And that ties right into his presentation which seems just a tad rushed to you.  And, as a potential buyer, you find yourself reacting to those signals by sensing his excitement and stepping back just a bit (both physically and emotionally), looking for just a little more time to think this thing through and to try to satisfy those little red flags that you find popping up.  You are slowly moving into a protection mode which, to this salesperson, probably spells doom to this sale he seems to be trying so desperately to make.

Yeah, you’re a salesperson (and probably think you’re a pretty good one, too) and it is fairly easy for you to recognize all the signs of being needy to make a sale that this salesman is displaying through his excitement.  So…what do your clients think of you?  Do you, through your unintentional display of excitement and emotional attachment to and pride in your product come across to him and this salesperson’s came across to you?

In sales, you need to always maintain an even keel in how you make your presentation.  In times of inner turmoil, slow down and lower your voice. Work at being lower and slower with your voice.  Don’t tell your client in these often overlooked ways that you are overly anxious to make this sale now.  Instead, let him be the one to get excited and move towards closing the deal, but with your calm and assured guidance!

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In the last blog, we talked about how setting expectations can derail your sales by making you appear too needy to your client.  This is the second in a series of how different traits of appearing needy can kill a deal even before you start.  Even if you have wiped your expectations slate clean before you meet with your client, if you carry the trait of talking too much, you can find yourself in the same boat – appearing needy…in need of making this sale!  There’s no bigger turn-off for most people than the proverbial used car salesman approach – bombard the client with so much information that he feels overwhelmed and backs off.

Unfortunately, perhaps, when we call on a client, we all have the same reason to be there, to make a sale.  Whether it’s a product or a service, we still have the objective of convincing the client to separate himself from some of his money.  He knows this, too.  So we’ve wiped clean the expectations slate as best we can, and we show up at the appointed time, talk a bit with the client (relationship building) and find that we have just what the customer is indicating that he needs.  And we know our product!  So the next step is to start the spiel, perhaps with a demonstration or power point display.  And, in the process, we begin to expound on the virtues of what it is we have to offer.  Now we have entered upon dangerous ground!

We know our product!  We know how we can help the client meet his need.  We may even think we know his needs better than he does.  And we begin to demonstrate that by expounding on the virtues of the product and the benefit he’ll realize by going with us instead of the competition.  In the process, our self need of feeling important in this deal begins to lead us down the wrong path.  That need to show off – to be the most important and or knowledgeable one in the room begins to come through in what we are saying, or in even more subtle ways, how we are saying it.  This is not the time to exhibit – in any way – that we want to be liked – that we want to appear smart or important.  This is the time to let the client carry most of the conversation.  You’ll have a better chance of closing the deal if you steer the client into carrying the conversation while you actively listen to what he is saying and actively try to sense what it is he is actually feeling.  Be sharp, be available, be aware, and, above all, be effective and professional.  Work to direct your talking to providing answers and solutions to the client’s situation without flooding him with a verbal flood of your product information and vast experience.  In short, be professional.  Do not appear needy.  If you keep your expectation slate clean and your talking like a stream and not a raging river, you’ll stand a much better chance of getting to the other side of making a deal, arm-in-arm with a happy client.

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Setting expectations in your relationships with your clients or potential clients can spell doom to your sales process right from the start!  Setting expectations is one of several behavioral disasters that you might be engaging in, thinking that it’s the best possible thing you can do without realizing the potential for disaster that comes with expectations.

So, what’s wrong with setting expectations?  Isn’t it fair to have expectations that my customer will want to buy my product or service from me?  I’ve spent a lot of my time just getting to know this customer and analyzing what his needs are and how I can meet them.  He and I have gone over his process and I’ve discussed with him where my services and my products are going to help him grow and prosper.  I’ve given him the pitch and now I want to close the deal!  What’s wrong with that?

Change seats with your customer for a minute and think about how you are coming across to him – not just on the surface, but all your subliminal messages as well.  One thing’s for certain – probably first and foremost on his mind.  You’re there for one reason and one reason only.  You want to make a sale.  You want him to spend some money on what you think he needs.  If you appear, in any manner, eager to push and pull, to push him into a deal and pull his money out of his wallet, he’s going to be inclined to push back.  And, even if he doesn’t push back, what you may be doing is causing him to enter a state of emotional flux, a sate of instability that can and will cloud the decision making process, make it harder for him to listen effectively.

Now, step back to your own seat for a second.  IF you go into this interview/presentation with high expectations, out of necessity, your own emotional needs piggyback on your expectations.  Even without realizing it, your emotions are influencing how you behave, how you appear, and what you choose to say.  It makes you less likely to listen effectively, to miss cues at the table, and leads you away from making effective decisions and taking effective steps.

Don’t expect. Don’t assume.  Go into your meeting with a blank slate.  Develop valid goals and objectives.  Walk away from your emotions and establish a plan to solve the real problem under discussion and you’ll find you have a laser like focus…a powerful focus that will move the process forward and not derail it.

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Lao Tzu wrote, “He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened.”  What that means for us in the sales world is, if you need to sell more, increase your value. To increase your value, develop your strengths.

On the face of it, that’s a pretty easy concept to grasp.  It’s almost axiomatic.  But, when you’re working the territory or managing a team who is out there daily looking to increase sales, actually applying that principle becomes a difficult task.  As a Manager, what does that mean to you?  What does a Sales Staff Assessment mean to you?  Do you know what the strengths and weaknesses of your sales team are, both as a team and as individuals?  Can you assess their core competencies and, from that assessment, identify areas from which you can draw on strengths as well as areas in which you – and they – can learn to turn weaknesses into a growing positive force?

With a sales staff assessment, at the sales team level, how would your team rate in experience, skills, abilities, personality, motivation, judgment, and culture fit?  Do they have the overall ability as team players to align and apply their combined strengths to gain maximum advantage in overall sales?  What’s missing?  What needs some work?  What can be done to leverage the positive while working to build the negative?  Sometimes, an honest and thorough sales staff assessment at the team level is even more difficult than assessing each individual for those same core competencies.

You might want to consider, as well, the staff assessment at the individual level.  More often than not, your team members are pretty much out there on their own, expected to meet and exceed the goals you have set for them.  How do their individual skills sets work in meeting those individual goals, in supporting the team goals, in meeting your own goals?

As a former sales team manager, I can honestly say that going through a sales staff assessment in my organization led me to understand – and accept – that every member of the team, myself included, had both strengths and weaknesses.  And, I can and will honestly say that I, as a sales manager, learned that my own skills – and lack thereof – were standing in the way of overall team and of individual team member growth.  Once I put the ego aside, I was able to accept that a thorough and professional sales staff assessment was needed.  We scheduled that assessment from which we discovered that, with the proper training, each of us could and would develop those core competencies which we had assumed were far better than they actually were…which we assumed were something nice to have but not something necessary for success.

In the end, we accepted the recommendations of the assessment specialist, enrolled in targeted training, and, over a remarkably short period of time, discovered a vast improvement in the way we, as a team were doing things out there in the field.  Our relationships with our current customers became stronger.  We began to locate and gain new customers.  And that bottom line began to grow…and grow…and grow.  And the funny thing about this whole experience was that through the sales team assessment by an impartial and outside source, we have moved from a district that was on the low end of the middle ranking of all the districts to now being the second from the top on the list.  Sales Staff Assessment!  Best thing I ever did!!!

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What’s the worst possible sales situation you can imagine?  Sales are down and no one on your sales team seems to be willing or able to take the responsibility.  Is this problem really totally within the sales force?  Or, is it just as much a problem with the sales managers?  Do they enforce sales force accountability?  Do they even know how?  Perhaps it is time for some specialized training in sales force accountability!

So, what is this sales force accountability all about?  It’s simple, it’s basic, and it’s guaranteed to provide results!  It starts at the very beginning:  Hold each and every member of your sales force accountable for something measurable every day!  Set goals for each member of your team and measure their worth against those goals.  These goals must be measurable and they must be accounted for on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual basis.

Why is this so important?  With measurable and enforceable goals, you will reduce the roller coaster ride in your bottom line and you’ll guarantee more consistency from period to period in your sales numbers.  Definable and enforceable goals not only bring more consistent results, they provide you with a more capable, balanced sales force, the ability to better forecast sales, and an overall increase in performance on a day-to-day basis.  Remember, success breeds success and that success delivers more certainty for the future.

Sales force accountability!  You’ll see immediate results in your bottom line.  You’ll see more dedication in your sales team.  And you’ll realize personal growth in your team, growth in your challenge areas, and growth in your new business!  And what manager would not want that?

Let’s talk about new business growth through sales force accountability.  Wouldn’t you love to expand the pipeline and land new and profitable accounts?  And how about the ability to target and land those difficult accounts that have eluded you in the past?  With the proper training, you will be able to break through the excuse barriers – from each individual, from the sales culture, and from management.  When you set clearly defined goals for your sales team, when you obtain buy-in from your sales team, and when you and they understand there are consequences for non-compliance, you’ve started down the sales force accountability road that will help you climb the hill of success!

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What is the main focus of your business?  We humbly suggest if your answer was anything other than to make money, you might want to rethink your answer!

Now that, hopefully, we have your attention, think about what it is you offer potential clients, whether product or service, and how you plan on moving what you have into the hands of someone who wants it.  Most likely, that is accomplished by using someone in the capacity of selling … a sales person.  And that, my friend, is where the rubber meets the road!

Yes, but, anyone can sell, right?

Well, let’s take a look at what a professional sales person can bring to your business, a Sales Person who has gone through professional Sales Training, learned all the facets of making sales, how to read the customer, and how to use all the facets of what he has learned through sales training and experience to close the deal.

Now, we’re not talking about your typical discount store Sales Associate who knows everything about a few products, as long as it’s written on the label of the package.  We’re talking about the person who knows the product inside out – how and how not to use it, all of its functionality, and all the ways that it compares to the competition product.  Sales Training instills the importance of know the product into your sales force as being the primary requirement to be successful.  Sales Training teaches how to build a product awareness that reaches beyond the package, beyond the user manual, beyond the blurbs on the internet.  Once your sales people have learned the importance of knowing the product, we begin to build their core communication strengths to enable them to intelligently talk about the product – to communicate to the client those things that he or she needs to hear that will demonstrate how your product can help them out.  Sales Training!  And, from there Sales Training will help your people understand the importance of knowing your customer and how to utilize that knowledge to increase your chances of selling a product.  Good sales training helps build the solid platform of awareness from which your sales force can reach out, engage a client, define the client’s needs, offer just the right product or service to fill those needs, and define why your company is the best choice.  Then, with the proper Sales Training, your sales force will know when and how to close the deal, that deal that directly impacts what we talked about in paragraph one:  Making money for your company.  So, what could Sales Training do for you?  Contact us and ask us.  We’ll be happy to discuss all the avenues in which Sales Training is going to impact your bottom line and increase your value as a provider of goods and services.

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Every question needs an answer and every problem needs a solution-right? Of course you’re right, you’re always right and because you are always right you are always doing the right thing, right? Wrong. Self-encouragement goes a long way but being overly confident in yourself can sometimes lead to disaster because you overlook the small things in life and in your business. How do you avoid problems? Well, first, you can’t avoid every problem but you can “nip it in the bud” so to speak when you first see a problem has come up, you can’t assume all things will work out, because in the world of sales they don’t always work out.

One of the main problems in sales is having a sales person that is not and cannot close any of the  deals. Some things you may need to consider would be to evaluate your sales force.  Do you have the right people to achieve your goals? Do you know how to manage your team on a day to day basis? Do you have a plan of action for your sales people?

A bad sales person can wreak havoc on your business. A bad sales person, whether he has the wrong attitude, the wrong sales approach, or whatever he is doing that is making people not buy from your business is a big problem and needs a solution fast. This salesperson, whether it is a man or woman, is the key spokesperson for your business when he is talking to the potential customer. He, at this time, represents everything your company stands for and if he is falling short of representing your business correctly, he is ruining your business. Word of mouth travels fast and with the internet and social networking sites, word of mouth travels at lightning speed these days.

For instance, let’s say that Donna is the salesperson who is lacking in sales and you don’t know why. One of the first things you can do to find out why is to simply ask her what the issue is. She may give you a variety of reasons and none of her answers lead in the direction of solving the problem. If this is the case, set up a shadow customer. Send a friend or hire someone to come in and rate her technique. She must not know this person is a test from you. This shadow customer will be able to help evaluate what areas Donna is lacking in her ability to sell your product. You may be surprised at the results you receive from the shadow customer. You might learn that Donna is rude to potential customers, ignores them, insults them or just generally makes them not want to buy from your company. Sales team members like Donna can make or break your company.

I have taught people how to become better sales professionals for years and I can even teach Donna a thing or two and help her become a better salesperson that is going to bring in more sales for your company.  A solution to all of this would be to consider the Sales Force Profile that we offer.  This will give you a comprehensive understanding of your sales organization along with instructions to improve their overall effectiveness.  There is a simple orientation  to some basic concepts which will help you better understand  the specific areas where development will directly improve your people, their manager(s), your sales management processes and your company’s sales performance

Don’t sit back and allow your “problem” to become the destroyer of your business. Most every problem has a solution and when it comes to sales training problems, we have the solutions for you. Why not look into the services we provide and use them for Donna, yourself, and the rest of your sales people. The right training goes a long way in the sales business and I want to provide you with a model of success.

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