Month: November 2017

Sales are won and lost before you ever reach your prospect’s office building. Brian Azar said, “Sales are not made or unmade inside the prospect’s office. They are made or unmade inside you.” You see, you only make a sale if you believe you are going to make a sale. Selling success always comes down to your belief in selling. Now, what does that mean? Well, selling always comes down to our self-esteem. In fact, this is probably the biggest challenge and downfall for most sales professionals. As sales professionals, we get beat up a lot. When you take a look at the Law of Averages, we may only make one sale out of every ten sales calls. That means we may get rejected 90% of the time. Many times we take that personally. We think, “The prospect didn’t buy because they didn’t like me. I just can’t do anything right.” That is sour thinking and in most cases, very inaccurate. Sure, there are a few people in the world who are not going to like you and me. So what? That is their problem. Not yours and not mine. However, most people choose not to buy because it is strictly a business decision. It comes down to a belief in yourself and your product or service. As long as you have a great product or service that is...

Sales training, business coaching, increase sales, sales skills, business building, customer experience Does your sales training focus on: Specific selling skills? Specific marketing skills? Subject matter expertise Attitudes and habits? Self leadership skills? If you answered yes to any or all, you may be thinking that you have your sales training bases covered, right? Wrong! Most sales training fails to address one of the key factors within the sales process, customer service. Many in sales after the sale is made hand off the sale to customer service and then are on to the next sale. Big mistake! Your sales people are your first customer service people. These are the folks that usually receive that first call regarding the customer experience. How they handle that call can potentially determine if that customer will become a loyal patron of your business or if that same individual will become the dreaded unhappy camper who tells everyone about his or her terrible customer service experience. Your sales people need to know what each client experiences when interacting with your customer service department. They also need to know how to fast track any buyer's complaints so that the issue is resolved as quickly as possible to the customer's expectations, not the company's expectations. When organizations become so departmentalize, the client begins to feel disconnected and this translates into a negative emotional experience. Just pick...

People Reject What They Do not Understand Many sales are lost, not because the product or service did not fit the customer's needs nor as a result of an inferior product line- and regardless of what could not "afford it" or "needed to think about it "- but because the salesperson lost the customer somewhere along the way. They confused them. And, when a customer is confused, they will not buy, because people reject what they do not understand! Customers are providing you with a clear indication that your message lacked clarity when you hear something like this: " Well, you really did a great job and you've given us a lot to think about. to you ". After all, what are they suppose to say to you? They probably will not be so candid as to say, "You know, we were actually ready to make this decision right now, but frankly, you confused us when you were talking about that drop-interest financing option. need some time to see if we can figure out what you were saying before we make a mistake that could cost us money. " To the uninformed, the "we need to think (or talk) about it" response is an "objection", so they leap into the argument handling mode and hope that that last seminar on closing they attended was worth the money. It seldom...

I love being flawless. It puts a big smile on my face. Whether giving a speech, making a cold call, or bluffing at poker, it's nice to have a perfect mission. Ok … let's get real here … it almost NEVER happens !! So many companies have a mission of 'flawless execution' for their employees. They wear it like a badge of honor and preach it at their annual sales meetings and in their company newsletters. They think that pushing for perfection really works. I disagree. I have a question for you. Are you flawless in your sales processes? Do you never make mistakes? No fighter pilot mission is ever complete until we de-brief. Why? Because 99.9% of the time, mistakes are made and we need to figure out how not to make them again! No mission is ever perfect, regardless if you're a fighter pilot, sales manager, or an IT specialist. We're all human beings, and human beings make mistakes. The problem with having a flawless execution business philosophy is that it often back-fires. Here's why – When people are pushed to be perfect, they stop taking risks and start accepting mediocrity! They become afraid to push the envelope and make mistakes. After all, if they do not perform flawlessly, they must be messing up! In essence, they become fearful … and fear takes away our winning spirit....

On the 27th July 2012, the world will watch each of the 10,500 Olympic athletes represent their country in East London. Each athlete will stand at their peak, ready to perform against whatever comes between them and their gold medal. In the run up to probably the largest sporting event in the world (even the US takes this one seriously!) Athletes focus on their mental strength as well as their eating and sleeping patterns. Irrespective of their talent and determination, each athlete will have spent 8 hours a day, 7 days a week, numerous months a year (for many years previous!) Training their bodies and minds to be in peak condition, even if their surname is' Bolt '. They train consistently to develop and perfect their skills, work on their weaknesses, and maintain their phenomenal level of physical shape in order to achieve the performance of their lives, while the world watches. Tomorrowmore, each athlete will work day and night with their own coach, who will work alongside them developing their skills, pushing them harder, faster, further … in order for them to progress. They do this because they want to be the best. They do this because that's what it takes to compete with the best. In the battleground of today's business world, sales people are having to give the best performances of their lives to win business...