Get More Sales Today!

Many otherwise good salespeople set themselves up for failure by expecting it before even picking up the phone. A winning attitude is essential to turn a telephone call into an in-person appointment. Failure is when excuses stall making prospect calls.

Remember that no call is bad and all results work to groom the salesperson. Attitude can override inexperience.

* Set aside a chunk of time for calls.
* Plan and prioritize a call list.
* Outline specific goals to meet.
* Know who you're talking to and why.

Apprehension is a salesperson's worst enemy, as most salespeople don't want to pick up the phone in order to do their job. To overcome nervousness, you must first admit the problem. Then analyze why you really don't want to make the calls. Fearing rejection is solved by gaining more experience.

It is not intrusive to call businesspeople, who expect interruptions during their day, so don't ever apologize for calling. Remember to simply sell the idea of making an appointment. To get an in-person appointment, be prepared and establish a relationship from "Hello."

* Be armed with background on your prospect and your goal.
* Clearly introduce yourself and your business.
* Know their needs and explain briefly how you can help them.
* Keep conversation geared toward simply making the appointment and directly ask for a
* meeting.
* Once set, thank them and reiterate details like your name and the time and date of the appointment.

It is important to distinguish between useful and time-wasting prospects. It is easy for a prospect to simply hang up on you. You must be quick but not act like a smooth telemarketer.

* Consider not setting an appointment if it's very far away or there's really not the money or need.
* Increase your chances of getting an appointment by setting and adhering to a 20 to 30 minute time limit.
* Use words like "understand."
* Accept a real "No" but consider trying later.

It is also essential to avoid critical mistakes when a prospect attempts to reject making an appointment. A salesperson should not simply accept a quick "No," but must be careful not to ignore or manipulate the client in the process.

Always figure out what they really need, but don't ever be self-serving when faced with an objection. Remember, don't give up on the first "No." For example, don't use words like "but" or "better." Finally, don't ignore the prospect and try to push other services or merchandise.

By : Stephanie_B_Mojica

Perfect Words Blended Together Perfectly Yield Best Results

I hear a lot of salespeople criticize the use of so-called "sales techniques." I most often hear salespeople say two things when they refer to sales techniques: First, they say that decision makers can see them coming a mile away. Secondly, they say that they sound phony.

I disagree. When I have heard a dozen or more times the same reason for not doing business with me or my company, I figure it's time for me to come up with just the right words to overcome the objection, memorize those words and repeat them in such a way that I convince the prospect to give me his business.

Yes, this may include the use of a technique, but my definition of a sales technique is to string together a series of words that help salespeople accomplish their objective. As salespeople we must be persuasive. Product knowledge is essential, but product knowledge alone is no better than sending a dictionary on a sales call.

Recently, a lumber company I know experienced some severe cash flow problems, so severe in fact, that several of the company's vendors held up shipments thereby forcing the lumberyard to be out of stock on several key commodities.

The competition jumped on this situation with both feet and spread the word in the community that their competitor had been "cut off" by several vendors and couldn't meet their delivery commitments.

Even though the dealer was able to get his bank to extend his line of credit, pay his past due invoices and get caught up with his vendors, his salespeople were bombarded with questions from customers about what had happened and what assurances could they be given that the barrage of backorders wouldn't be repeated.

The owner called me for some ideas. I recommended a technique that I thought would be perfect for the salespeople to use to deal with this customer concern.

It is called the Feel, Felt, Found technique.
To use this technique, the salesperson had to first of all identify a well-respected contractor who had experienced the inconvenience of backorders, but who had given the salesperson (and the lumberyard) a second chance and was well pleased with the results.

Let's say that the contractor's name was Lou Goodfellow, owner of New Home Construction.

Salesperson making a sales call: "Okay, Joe, it sounds as if you and I pretty much agree on the pricing and the quantities for the framing package on the Cotner Job, may I go ahead and schedule the initial shipment for next Monday morning?"

Contractor: "I don't know, Eddie. You guys put me in a really bad position on the last job I bought from you. If you remember, my framing sub walked off the job when you guys backordered all of those 2 x 6s. I can't afford to let something like that happen again. I thought I'd never get that [framing] crew back on the job. That snafu ended up stretching that job out an extra five days."

Salesperson: "Joe, I totally understand how you feel. If that had happened to me, I would have felt the same way. We went through a bad time of it there for a few weeks, but now we have our act together and we have plenty of stock on hand to take care of your needs."

Contractor: "I'm just not sure, Eddie."

Salesperson: "Joe, do you know Lou Goodfellow over at New Home Construction?"

Contractor: "Yeah, I know Lou."

Salesperson: "Do you respect him?"

Contractor: "Of course, I respect Lou. He is one of the most successful builders in this community."

Salesperson: "Well, Lou had the same experience that you did. And he felt the same way you feel right now, but I convinced Lou that all of the problems we where having with backorders had been fixed and that we had our act back together. So Lou gave us a second chance and he found that our service was better than ever. So what do you say? I sure would like to have a chance to get back in your good graces."

Contractor: "Okay, Eddie. I see your point. Go ahead and ship it. I need it on the job by no later than 7 AM, okay?

Salesperson: "You got it, Joe. Thanks for your confidence.

I understand how you feel, Lou felt the same way, but he found...

Call it a technique if you will, but in this case it did the job for the salesperson. Using these words helped Eddie convince Joe that he should give him a second chance.

Eddie practiced the technique until the words rolled off his tongue. He didn't sound like he was trying to trick Joe into anything, he just sounded sincere. He simply made a good case for being given a second chance.

My advice to all salespeople is to have effective words and phrases memorized to deal with recurring customer objections. The time to learn how to deal with an obstacle is well in advance of encountering it. The worst time to start thinking about what you're going to say is immediately after you encounter the obstacle.

When a golfer hits a shot into a bunker, he must know the correct technique to get out of the trouble he finds himself in. He must know the right way to open the blade of the club, hit an inch or two behind the ball and follow through, letting the sand become a friend instead of an enemy.

Think of the use of sales techniques in the same way as you might think of a technique in golf.

By : Bill_Lee

The Customer's Process Rules: A Sales Rep Pop Quiz

Whatever you're doing right now, stop.

Put down the phone, quit fiddling with your iPad, and shut down your Tweetdeck while you're at it.

It's time for a Sales Pop Quiz, hotshot.

Here's the rules: Without looking at your CRM system, think of your highest-probability deal in the pipeline right now, and answer these questions.

1. Name the specific title of the last person at the account you spoke with on the phone, and the department they work for.

2. Give the name and title of the person that the Person in Question #1 directly reports to.

3. Give the name and title of one of the people that reports to Person #1.

4. Give the name and title of the person that's going to write the check/drop the corporate credit card/put the final signature on the PO when your prospective sale closes (if you're lucky, the answer will be the same as Question #1).

5. When was the last time the Persons in Questions #1, 2, and 4 met together to discuss the problem your product/service is going to solve?

6. What paperwork/research/data did they have in front of them when they did?

7. Who else was in the room?

8. How long is it going to be before they meet again?

9. How many other vendors are they considering?

10. Who are they?

11. What features/benefits/advantages of competing vendors are most appealing to them?

12. What's their "drop dead," point-of-no-return deadline for implementing any purchased products or services?

13. Which of the Persons in Questions #1, 2, or 4 is setting the budget? Or is it someone else entirely?

14. If it's someone else entirely, do they even know your company is in the running for a major purchase?

15. What is the budget they've set?

16. How is your product service emotionally making life better for the Persons in Questions #1-4? This isn't about features and benefits, it's about the direct connection to how you're going to emotionally change their lives, their jobs, their daily tasks. From Day 1, how is what you're about to sell to them going to make them enjoy their job more/hate their job less?

17. How is your sales data, case studies, testimonials, research, and best practices justifying the emotional reactions of the Persons in Questions #1-4?

18. Based on Questions 9-17, are you even in the running for this sale, or are you clinging to false hope?

19. Are you tracking the progress of the deal based on your internal sales process,, or on how the prospect is actually approaching the purchase?

20. Based on Questions #5-19, how accurate is your current closing forecast?

21. If your sales manager knew the true answer to Question #20, how would that change what you do for the next 14, 30, 90 days?

It may seem a bit didactic, but the point is if you didn't have answers to more than four or five of these questions, it's indicative of a mindset.

Are you really focusing on the prospect's needs? Are you approaching the process of the sale from their viewpoint, their decisions, their company hierarchy and culture? Based on your action items, are you making the decision to purchase your solution harder, or easier?

It's these every day questions that ultimately lead to a customer-centered, rather than a seller-centered buying cycle, that will lead to more success.

By : Steven_Watts

Give Pain to Get Pain When Making Cold Calls

Regardless of where you are in a sales cycle, it is critical that there must be identified pain in order for the opportunity to be qualified. This is because regardless of the relationships that you have established and the cool things that your product can do, if there is no pain there is no reason to change. Thus, you will want to find pain and find it as early as possible and one way accomplish this is to give pain while making cold calls.

Giving pain to get pain refers to sharing a story of how someone else has experienced a challenge to a prospect and exploring if they can relate and have seen anything similar. This is a probing technique and can help the prospect to become more self-aware and share information that they might not if you ask them directly without the story of the other company.

A Brief Demonstration
An example of this would be to tell a prospect that a lot of your clients have complained about not being able to produce financial reports that have data from all their international operations. You can go on to share the impact of this challenge and how it prohibited the companies from having visibility across the entire organization and that impacted the quality and timeliness of decision making, which impacted the ability to manage labor costs resulting in decreased profitability.

From there, you can ask the prospect if that is something that they have had any similar challenges with. The prospect will then either share similar pain, will share pain in a different area, or will not admit to any pain. When you reach this point while making cold calls, you can either drill down into pain that is shared or if there is no pain uncovered, you can continue on to give pain from another example in another area.

Latent Pain
One of the reasons that giving pain can help to get pain is that many prospects are not fully aware of their pain. And when making cold calls, since you are calling them, any pain they may have, whether they are aware of it or not, it is not the top of their mind. When this is the case and the prospect is not actively thinking about pain in an area and trying to fix it, we call this "latent pain".

In order to improve sales effectiveness, we need to uncover this latent pain and bring more attention on it. One of the ways to accomplish this is to ask very direct questions about it. The downside to doing this is that either the prospect can fall into denial and avoid acknowledging it or the prospect could feel attacked by the questioning and get defensive.

This is an example why giving pain to get pain can be powerful when making cold calls as you give the prospect an example that helps them to become more aware. You also bring it up in the context of another company so not only do they not get defensive by feeling attacked, they also can feel comforted by knowing that they are not the only company out there in that scenario.

By : Michael_Halper

Buyers Want a Shorter Buying Decision Cycle

Why do you think buyers take so long to decide? Do you really think they want to take that long?

Think of a decision you had to make with one of your teammates, or a family member.

What was the difference between what you wanted to happen, and the others wanted to have happen?

Where did you all end up vs where you began - and what was the journey between the two?

What did you end up knowing that you didn't start off knowing - and how long into your journey did it take you to figure that out? And how did it influence the final decision?

What choice criteria did you start off with? What did you end up with? What didn't you know at the beginning that ended up being vital for a good decision at the end? And who was it on the Buying Decision Team that discovered that missing piece - or was the group collaboration the instigation for expanded thinking?

What was the process you used to get between the beginning and end? How could you have done it quicker? What did you need to know or do differently at the beginning - or was there no way of knowing this until further along the decision cycle?

How did members of your family or colleagues (your Buying Decision Team) influence the decision - and how much of the decision cycle was spent in them figuring out what you probably knew to begin with? How many arguments or fights or discussions were there?

At what point in your decision making do you need all of the facts about the final solution possibilities (i.e. when thinking of moving, when do you need all of the data about the new house? When realizing you're overweight, when do you need all of the facts about the gym?

When thinking about buying a CRM system, when do you need all of the features and benefits) - and do they shift as you move through your buying decision journey??

THE TIME IT TAKES TO DISCOVER CRITERIA IS THE LENGTH OF THE SALES CYCLE

In any of the above situations, wouldn't you rather have had a shorter decision cycle? Of course you would. But the time it takes to come up with your own answers is the length of the sales cycle. And we don't know all that we don't know when we begin the process.

The last thing buyers need is information about your solution. The first thing they need is help shortening the change management issues they have to contend with.

We can help buyers make their buying decision cycle shorter by being a GPS system for them to help them - without any bias - navigate through the route t0 internal buy-in.

Soooo do you want to enter at the end? or at the beginning?

The only decision that can be made in a very short time, with few internal change issues, are personal decisions that involve one person (you) and are cheap. Almost all decisions involve others - and all decisions are a change management problem.

How are you selling? How are buyers buying? And how are you getting involved at the beginning of their change management decisions - or are you sitting and waiting while they do this themselves?

By : Sharon_Drew_Morgen

5 Reasons Why You Should Send Holiday Cards

When it comes to the annual sending of Holiday Cards I've often wondered why the tradition that started in the 1800s has continued to this day.

With all of the phone calls, emails, texts, tweets, Facebook posts and social networking opportunities galore, you would think the sending of greeting cards would fast become a lost art. Instead, the personal connection holiday cards bring are more important than ever and here are several reasons why.

1) Personal Relationships.

You need to put a little extra effort into maintaining and growing your personal relationships. True, you may have followed up on your last meeting with a phone call but that has become expected. You need to work at strengthening relationships and holiday cards do just that.

By remembering someone with a thoughtful holiday greeting you are letting them know that they are special to you. Taking that bit of extra time to address and mail them a card lets them know they matter to you and to your business.

2) Loyalty.

It takes effort to build loyalty and even more to maintain it. Closing that first sale means a lot but you want that customer to keep coming back to you. You don't want them looking around, you just want them to trust that you are providing them with the very best in price, quality, service and product or service.

To insure that they think of you and only you, you must earn their trust and maintain their loyalty. Sending them thoughtful holiday cards will let them know that they are special to you. Even better, remember them with personal birthday cards, anniversary cards and thank you cards throughout the year to keep your name in front of them and retain their loyalty.

3) Hard copy.

It has been proven that people actually ignore more than half of the emails they receive daily. Unless they are looking for an email from you or you are offering something free or at a great discount that they actually want and need, emails are glanced at and deleted.

Custom imprinted holiday cards that come through the mail and are addressed to the receiver are always opened and enjoyed. During the holidays these cards are often displayed for all to see. What better way to get your name in front of those that matter.

4) Time Well Spent.

We've all used the excuse that I just don't have time to select, address and send holiday cards. I've often thought that myself. However, this once a year ritual is well worth the effort if you want to stay connected with friends, family, customer and business associates.

Take a moment now to go ahead and select a design with a thoughtful custom imprinted verse and your very own personalization. Round up your mailing list and use this opportunity to update your mailing addresses.

You can even enjoy remembering each addressee as you stuff their envelope with your unexpected surprise card. With just a little effort and time spent you will be rewarded with lasting partnerships and strengthen new connections.

5) Stay in Touch.

Don't just say "I'll be in touch", do it! By sending holiday cards you are being proactive and investing in your future. Professionally printed holiday cards or Christmas cards send a stylish and tasteful message that shows you cared enough to take the time to remember them.

Christmas Photo Cards are especially cherished by friends and family who may not have seen you or your family in a while. Customers will feel special, business associates will appreciate the gesture and friends and family will remember you fondly.

There really are no excuses for not sending holiday cards this year. Considering how tough it is to grow and maintain business, any advantage you can leverage is called for. Personalized holiday cards are a simple way to express thoughtfulness and appreciation to those you value in your business and personal life.

By : Linda_Cress_Dowdy

How Many Accounting Salespeople Do You Know?

Many technical professionals are often horrible at selling themselves. Many accountants, attorneys, consultants, and engineers don't think of themselves as salespeople - and they don't want to!

Their DNA, through their academic and educational foundation and their professional development, seldom includes the notion of strategic relationships and business development best practices.

I genuinely believe that a very small number of people are born with these best practices and insights into what works. Very few companies and learning and development organizations bring a disciplined approach to the knowledge, skills, and evolutionary development of revenue-generating skills for non-business development professionals.

Many people in the accounting and engineering professions, for example, are not typically extroverts: It's just not in their DNA. They are not the relationship-initiating types.

Many would rather dive into 400 pages of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance papers or endless technical specifications than attend a networking event where they have to shake hands and exchange business cards.

Additionally, such interaction simply was not part of their education. Networking and relationship-building is not taught in our schools. It isn't part of the accounting or finance curriculum, and it isn't covered by companies upon employment.

Law firms seldom teach strategic relationships, and when they do, it is often focused on the art. They encourage associates and partners alike to immerse themselves in various civic, professional, and community organizations, yet very few are able to convert relationship creation into relationship capitalization or monetization.

If you can change the perception of transactional, quick-hit sales to a more strategic, longer-term perspective of business development, this competent group of professional service providers will not only listen, but they will embrace practical, pragmatic advice in building and profitably nurturing their respective businesses.

By the way, it has been our experience that this group is very good at building relationships based on competency and trust. The challenge often remains creating the initial access and nurturing relationships to extend and expand current engagements.

Flaws in Professional Certification Processes

If you look at many of the professional certification processes such as those required for a CPA, attorney, project managers, and even the medical profession, their curriculum for accreditation seldom includes content focused on the systematic disciplined process for the development of strategic business relationships.

None of these processes motivate, encourage, or praise individuals for the art and science of building, nurturing, and leveraging relationships. Instead, and rightfully so, they credit ethics, operational efficiency, and HR policies.

They applaud continuing education in compliance, but frown upon the very essence of their survival and success, which is business development and building strategic and quantifiable relationships.

And when it comes to compensation, whatever is spent comes directly out of the partners' pockets, so asking them to dedicate resources to building their business development skills is often frowned upon as unnecessary.

Or, they hire rainmakers - people who have networking in their DNA - to drive revenue for them. But these people are few and far between and can provide a false of security.

For example, if a power networker brings a huge international deal to a firm that keeps 20 people busy for two years, the firm may be led to believe that it is succeeding - but how will they develop 10 more of these types of deals?

Technical professionals will need to expand their area of focus as competition for professional services continues to increase. Not only will they need to deliver the services promised (thus delivering value), they will also need to turn their relationships into more of a strategic, long-term view of business development.

By : David_M._Nour

How To Increase Your Sales

Tough Times
A few years ago my sales figures were really struggling. It felt as though I was working really hard every day, my calls were of high quality and like the customers were the right ones for my product so there wasn't any problems with my prospecting.

But I wasn't making any sales. I didn't know what I should change or do to improve.

That was until I was shown a great technique called the sales grid.

The sales grid is basically a tool that helps you find your faults and motivate you to do more work. It helps you calculate the number of phone calls you need to in order to make a sale.

For example:
To make 1 sale you might have to meet 4 customers and have a meeting.
To get 4 meetings you have to book 6 because sometimes they just don't show up.
To book 6 meetings you have to get a hold of 15 decision makers.
In order to reach 15 decision makers you have to make 33 phone calls trying to reach them.

So you have 33 phone calls to the sell. This basically means that all you have to do is focus on making 33 phone calls every day and you will make 1 sale/day.

If you chose to make 66 phone calls you will make 2 and if you make 99 phone calls you will make 3 and so on.

This number is unique to every salesman and every business. One salesman might only have to make 10 calls, whilst a salesman working with telephone sales might have to make 200 phone calls but what is important is that you know yourself what is required.

Using the knowledge
You can decide exactly how much money you want to make. If you want to make 150 000 dollars/year you have to make x number of calls/day and if you want to make 200 000 dollars/year you must make Y number of calls.

It is all up to you.

This technique is motivating and gives you a greater sense of control when coming to your income.

So how do you calculate it?

The sales grid is a piece of paper with different columns.
- In the first column you write the days of the week; Monday, Tuesday Wednesday and so on.
- In the second column you write the number of phone calls you make.
- In the third the number of decision makers your reach.
- In the fourth the number of meetings you book.
- In the fifth the number of meetings you meet the customer at.
- In the sixth the number of sales you make.
- And in the seventh the commission you get from each sale.

This can be adapted to any method of sales.
For example in telephone sales it would look a little differently.
- The first column is still days of the week.
- The second has number of calls.
- The third has number of decision makers.
- The fourth has the number of times you get the chance to present your product or service.
- The fifth the number of sales.
- The sixth the commission you make.

I hope you can see the value of this method.
With it you can calculate your exact income but also see what points are your weakest.

If you are making to few calls you can see that. If you aren't reaching the right people you can make an adjustment. If you aren't booking meetings you can work on your telephone skills, if the problem is at the meetings people aren't showing up you know you have to be more firm about the calls and make sure they write the time and date down.

If you aren't making sales at the meetings you know you need to work on your sales technique and lastly if you are making a very low commission per sale you know you have to start raising your prices.

This completely objective view forces you to look deep into yourself and shows you number by number what you are doing wrong.

How long does it take to get a correct number?
Most say it takes 13 weeks of work before you know, but you do start to get a decent picture after about 5-10 weeks.

One thing to remember is that you can never stop, do this every day and you can increase your income steadily over time.

So, what happened to me?
It turned out that I was neither working so hard or making that high quality sales. I had to make some changes and started working on increasing my activity and practiced sales technique for 30 minutes every day. Within a month I had doubled my activity level and my sales calls were a lot better.

I quickly tripled my sales and was all of a sudden considered a top salesmen.

All thanks to this easy technique and the fact that I took action once I had learned my weak points.

By : Daniel_M_Wood

People Buy People - A Sales Mantra

In recent years the sales persons mantra has been "people buy people" which in turn supports the belief that 'it's not about sales but about relationships'.

Clearly this shift from "customer service" to "customer relationship" has transformed selling and the sale process, particularly in business to business sales. But perhaps it is time we questioned some of the behaviours and attitudes that stem from these beliefs.

To some the 'relationship' aspect of the sales-customer relationship is still simply about the lunch-time meeting; dinners (perhaps on expenses) and all that goes with the notion of wooing a potential client or prospect.

In some senses it became a game that both parties knew they were playing... the subtext of the relationship being to make a sale by convincing, coercing and closing.

Today's sales professional plays the outer game of providing solutions and hence the dialogue comes from a different place.

The assumption can still be however that 'people buy people', and deals are closed on the basis of whether the client 'likes' or 'gets on with' the salesperson.

This is perhaps an erroneous assumption...

OF course people are more likely to meet and do business with someone they like BUT if that person cannot meet the values expectations of the client then there will be no deal.

The professional sales relationship is not only about being 'a nice guy' but about the qualities and values that can be promoted and delivered.

The current economic downturn creates some exciting possibilities for sales teams (there's loads of pain out there!) and these opportunities will come to those who can:-

Promote, build and develop relationships
Inspire trust and create meaningful dialogue
Promote and act upon the core values of their service and/or product
Enter into a solutions based discussion with a real intention to help and not necessarily to sell
Bring a value proposition to solve problems and move clients closer to their business goals

And the KEY SKILLS for effective sales people in these interesting times...

To be able to shut up and listen.

Far too many sales people forget that it should be the customer/client who needs to do most of the talking. How can you be open to what is being said if all you are doing is waiting for an opportunity to deliver your pre-prepared sales pitch.

To be able to ask questions.

Finding out about the prospects business, their needs and their aspirations is something many sales folk claim they are able to do. Maybe so, but "finding out" is about effective questioning and that is a skill which often needs to be honed and refined.

To be a source of information.

Sales people are experts in the fields they work within. They often have intelligence about market trends, challenges and developments which will effect their clients directly. Having this information makes them a valuable resource to their clients over and above any benefits their product or service may bring.

In other words...

Foreground the clients needs. dreams, goals and challenges whilst stopping yourself from launching into a feature-benefits pitch about the ready made solution you are wanting to sell.

There is an 'inner game' that needs to be mastered. That is the game of coming to a sales meeting with the genuine intention of understanding a clients business; questioning their needs; uncovering their challenges and providing solutions.

By : Alan_B_Jones

Six Strategies to Accelerate Business Banking Sales Now

Maybe it's true: If you stepped on the sales accelerator now, perhaps your bank's sales engine would cough or die. The market is bad. There's a lot of uncertainty. Maybe your bank still has credit quality challenges... or now you're INCREDIBLY PICKY about to whom you will lend. Competitors may have better products, perhaps at lower prices. Your salespeople may think the quality of the leads they're getting is poor, or that they're spread too thin.

But now is not the time for excuse making. Instead, implement these six strategies to retune and restore power to your bank's sales engine.

1. Target sales efforts

When times are slow, sales team standards go lower. Salespeople sell to "everybody" whether or not they are a good fit for the bank, saying, "If we don't sell to them, somebody else will," or "If I don't sell to them, I won't make quota." When bank credit standards are high, sales team members can freeze or give up, saying, "The Loan Center isn't approving anything, or they change their standards week by week, so why bother?"

Both statements may be true, but they aren't good guides to profitable sales growth. In many companies, the top 10-20 percent of customers generate 80 percent or more of profits and sales, while the bottom 20-40 percent may be marginally profitable or unprofitable.

Targeting your sales efforts is a better strategy, in both lean times and good. Ask yourself and your sales team:

* Do you know who your most profitable (and credit-worthy) accounts are and why they are profitable? What are the demographics of these accounts?
* What are the industries, situations, or companies that need the value you offer? What is your value proposition to them (and it may be different for specific industries)?
* What specific companies or buying centers within those industries and companies are you targeting? How are you applying your value proposition to them?

Then, ask your salespeople the really difficult question: May I see your plan for attacking these industries and companies? In our experience, most salespeople have not developed written plans for their businesses, and most do not have written plans of any length for their top five accounts. If 80 percent of your revenue per salesperson is coming from their top five accounts, your sales future is at risk.

Action steps:

* Define your value proposition clearly.
* Define the buyers who are "in" your sales and credit target zones and those who are "out" of it.
* Align yourself or your sales team members to deliver the best value to "in target zone" buyers and focus yourself on them through planning and active strategy coaching.
* Discourage or don't pay incentive compensation for sales that come from "out of target zone" buyers.

2. Position and differentiate value

Once your salespeople open conversations with your target customers and prospects, you must make sure they can articulate your value proposition and differentiate it from other banks' propositions. If your bank's credit standards are more stringent than other banks' standards, this is particularly important.

Value, in this context, means a change in your customers' business operations (revenue, costs, risks, time) or feelings about themselves or their businesses. A "features-advantages-values" assessment will help you and your salespeople understand and communicate your bank's value.

Action steps:

* Write statements describing what's different about your staff, products, and work methods and what value those differences create for your clients.
* Validate with your clients that they see it the same way and that they will pay for the value either through the fees they pay or the loyalty they afford you (e.g. by staying with the bank or by giving you first look and last look at any new opportunity).
* Make sure your salespeople can deliver short statements that describe your bank's value, distinguish that value from other banks' values, and demonstrate their own personal value to your clients and prospects.

3. Boost sales capacity

Notice this says "boost capacity," not "hire more salespeople." Particularly in lean times, sales managers want to reduce costs by reducing headcount, particularly administrative headcount. Inevitably, they ask salespeople to take on more and more administrative work, expecting somehow that sales efforts will continue unabated.

Our research indicates that the average business-to-business salesperson dedicates less than 30 percent of his or her time to conversations with prospects and customers. Meanwhile, they spend somewhere between 30-40 percent of their time on administrative tasks, and the balance on servicing and traveling to and from their accounts.

If this is true in your bank, you're paying your salespeople to be unproductive, and you're making it worse if you're firing $20-an-hour sales support staff. The numbers may suggest you might consider hiring more support staff.

Suppose one of your salespeople generates $450,000 of gross profit per year in 15 hours per week of selling time (30 percent of 50 hours). That's $600 gross profit per selling hour (assuming a 50-week year). If you increase the sales rep's effective selling time by two hours per week, you could generate $60,000 in additional gross profit, more than enough to pay for a full-time administrator for that sales rep.

Action steps:

* Determine time spent on specific tasks and gross profit per selling hour for all sales reps.
* If profit per selling hour is greater than cost of an administrator per hour, consider hiring administrative support.
* Design your fulfillment and account management processes to reduce demands on your sales peoples' time. Eliminate steps that do not add value to clients.

4. Increase activity discipline

Most sales managers manage most salespeople based on results. Salespeople love this: "Don't worry about how I do it, boss, just measure my results." There are several problems with this approach:

* You lose the opportunity to understand the relationships between activities and results that would help you understand your sales teams' efficiency and effectiveness.
* You lose opportunities to coach salespeople to higher levels of performance.
* You lose any hope of consistency in the market.
* You lose sales opportunities.

Why do you lose sales opportunities? Because salespeople, in general, look for low-hanging fruit and stop reaching out to buyers who aren't ready to buy now. For example, check to see how many attempts are needed to book an appointment with a prospect; we'd expect that the number would be between three and seven attempts. If your sales activity discipline is low, we'd also expect that your salespeople will stop calling for appointments after two or three attempts.

Action steps:

* Develop a success model that connects activities to results.
* Create benchmarks that define the path to success (activities, work in process and results).
* Coach and manage to the success path benchmarks.

5. Grab market mindshare

Many companies compete for less than 10 percent of the business available to them because their salespeople aren't aware of or haven't contacted the prospects and aren't engaged with them when they're ready to make a change. As a result, prospects feel no connection to your salespeople or your bank when they're ready to change.

Maintaining prospects' and customers' top-of-mind awareness of your bank requires a series of "touches" throughout the year. These may be phone calls, e-mails, encounters at networking or community events, letters, or face-to-face calls. Once you have identified your targets, touch them consistently and relentlessly. This includes the touches needed to obtain appointments and maintain top-of-mind awareness after initial contact.

To ensure that you and your salespeople are focusing your touches on the best targets, tier your prospects and customers and determine how many touches are appropriate for each tier. For example, you might determine:

* Six to eight touches per year for high potential/most profitable prospects, of which two or three should be face to face.
* Four to six touches for medium potential prospects and top tier clients.
* Two to four touches for low potential prospects and low and medium tier clients.

To maximize your sales team's efficiency, use automated software to generate letters or emails, and use support staff to manage the paperwork.

6. Pay for performance

The number one mistake in sales compensation is paying salespeople for not selling or for underperformance. Fixing this mistake is usually beyond the scope of team leaders, within the scope of line-of-business leaders or segment leaders, and so time-consuming (working with HR, handling all of the legal issues) that many sales leaders fiddle with the incentive compensation plan without making major changes.

That said: If salespeople can earn what they need without doing what you want them to, you won't get what you want. You can't make salespeople earn more than they want to earn. To fix this problem (these are the steps I recommend, but I'm not saying it's easy), think about compensation in three levels: need to survive (pay rent, etc.), want (important add-ons like fancier vacations, private lessons for the kids, etc.) and dream (the obscenely fast car, the BIG house, etc.). Then:

* Define the outcomes you want very clearly.
* Connect incentive compensation to outcomes you want.
* Set base and incentive compensation at goal to cover "need to survive" plus a little "want."
* Set additional compensation (performance above goal) to cover some portion of "want."
* For extraordinary performance (you define this), set incentive compensation to cover "want" and some percentage of "dream."

A frequently asked question is how much of "need to survive" should you put at risk? There's no right answer to this. However, if you want your salespeople to pay attention to client relationships, service and internal paperwork or activities, pay a base compensation and communicate and enforce expectations of activity and outcomes you expect for the base. Placing 15-25 percent at risk is fairly common in these settings.

By : Nicholas_T._Miller

Sales Relationships - Top Ten Tips For Bonding With Your Customer

In my 25-year sales career, I've seen a lot of good, and bad, on the tactical side of sales and have always been amazed at the lengths some people will go to gain a customer's attention. What is even more amazing is that these people actually think outlandish measures will work. If you just remember a few simple tips, guerilla tactics won't ever be necessary.

After interviewing several individuals who've spent over 20 years in sales, the following guidelines emerged. Not only are these ideas applicable in the sales arena, but in life's arena as well.

1). Manners. Etiquette is a highly underrated and important facet of sales. Whether you're on the phone, out to lunch or vying with a competitor for face time, you'll get a lot further with sugar than you will with vinegar. As Julia Roberts said in Ocean's Eleven, "there's always someone watching," and in sales, you never know who.

2). Smile! No one likes a sourpuss and a smile is contagious. Try the age-old experiment: smile at a person and they'll smile back. This also works when using the telephone. A person can hear a smile in your voice just as they can hear stressed, sad, bored or angry. There's an old adage that it takes 43 muscles to frown, but only 17 to smile, so go ahead and show those pearly whites.

3). Be respectful of their time Ask your contact if they have a minute to spare. You could cost yourself more than a sales call if you run right over someone without clarifying this point. Some people are afraid they'll get a no, but a no today may open the door tomorrow to an even better yes. If you respect their time, they'll respect yours. Never forget; your time is valuable, too.

4). Ask questions, then listen. Don't be the "show up and throw up" guy. Not only could you be barking up the wrong tree with your products or service, but it shows you are genuinely interested in them as a person. You may find out a key fact which nets you more than you imagined. And it's hard to update a superior when you didn't find out the information you were sent to get or were too busy thinking of the next comment to hear what was said in the first place.

5). "Man up", so to speak. If you don't have the right answer, don't make one up. Customers will respect the fact that you didn't just say something to pacify them. They may have to take your answer to a superior and if they look bad, you'll look worse. And you wont' find yourself back in their office anytime soon.

6). Body language. Read up on the fine art of how to interpret a person's unspoken verbiage. There are plenty of books, sites and workshops on just this subject. It can save you time, money and aggravation. Simple things such as arm crossing, fidgeting or a sitting position can reveal a plethora of information. Think of Jim Carey in Bruce Almighty when he asked God to give him a sign. A truck full of warning road signs was directly in front of him, but he refused to acknowledge them.

7). Follow up. No matter what, do not promise follow up then drop the ball. You will lose trust and be put in the Rolodex under U for undependable. Even if you have to buy time to complete something, at least they know you haven't forgotten them. Chances are, your management wants to know how you're keeping them updated as well. Better make sure there are answers all around.

8). Thank you! What a way to set yourself apart. There are millions of salespeople in the world today. It makes you wonder how many take the time to write a personal thank you to the person who carved out a spot in their day to listen to a sales pitch. It can be as simple as a two-line blurb but it places you in front of the dozens who didn't.

We use a program that allows you to pick or design a card and send it out from your computer, all with a button click. With an attached postal account, you never have to shop then stand in line at the post office again. You have a tangible, mailed, personal note that lets them know they were more than a statistic on a call plan.

9). Keep good notes. It may be a pain, but in this electronic age, there's no excuse for not knowing what you did the time before. And don't forget to review the notes before the next visit. The salesperson who goes back prepared beats the one who sits across the desk with nothing. Once again, it shows you cared enough to make them a priority whether you did or not.

10). Treat your competitors with respect. This may sound crazy, but you never know where that person will land. The bridge you burn today, could be the walkway to a much needed job tomorrow. These people can also, and often will, help you in some way.

Nice guys don't finish last, bad guys do. There's enough business to go around for everyone and the salesperson that ignores this will be hung out to dry faster than the lone passer on a Nascar super track. You'll find out soon enough who wears the black hats and wears the white.

So when you're out there beating the streets every day, remember these few common sense tips. Don't forget, if you ever want to change jobs, many a sales person has been hired by a customer, but only if they show themselves to be an asset no matter which side of the desk they're on.

By : Jacquie_Galvin

How Purchasing Online Leads Can Smooth the Way to More Successful Sales

Although still a relatively new phenomenon, the ability for agents to buy online leads has already created a seismic shift in the way they will do business from now on.

Though lead purchasing probably will not ever entirely replace the tried and true methods of old school advertising and working your network of contacts, the internet has become the new go-to spot for consumers in search of health insurance quotes and information. Obviou

sly, with this glut of consumers online looking for help, agents have had to keep pace by coming online themselves, and expanding their sales strategy to include web based interaction.

For customers, this shift to online content means that they have information at their disposal like never before, and will never again feel boxed in by a lack of options or lack of information on what is available around them.

The work involved in comparison shopping has now been narrowed down to the simple click of a button, and the moment a consumer experiences dissatisfaction with their current carrier they can look around and see what else out there might be a better fit.

This fact is a positive for agents, as they will be encountering customers who are more informed than in the past, and with a clearer idea of what they are looking for before they speak with an agent.

In a way, by buying leads online, you are cutting down on the amount of time you will have to put into making your sale and convincing your potential customer of their best option, because by the time you and the client speak, it should be just a matter of matching them with the package that they want as quickly and courteously as possible.

Agents will also benefit from purchasing leads online because they will be able to narrow down their leads to include specific demographics which they are more comfortable selling to, thereby becoming specialists in a particular area where they are most at ease and have had the most success in the past.

By specializing in this way,agents will be able to take some of the guesswork out of their daily interactions with potential customers, as they will be well-versed in the wants and needs of their specific customer base, and able to address any question or concern with a scripted sales pitch that will only get better with practice.

Finally, because of a higher success rate through targeted online sales, agents will have time to shift focus and devote their extra time to creating a successful client retention strategy to keep their customer base intact. This will lead to less client turnover, and rosters full of clients ready to renew when the time comes.

By : Dwayne_Nawrocki

Treat Your Customers Like Sheep, and They'll End Up Buying in Flocks

A lot of the time, personal service - at least during the selling process - isn't what buyers really want... it's just what they think they want. The reality, however, is that they are much more swayed by the actions and opinions of other people around them.

It's group psychology at its finest, and an important realization if you're going to be a high-powered sales professional.

Simply put, if most of the members of a certain group are excited about buying from you, then that greatly increases the excitement of the other prospects around them. That's a longer way of saying that energy and enthusiasm leads to more energy and enthusiasm; you can see the same dynamic at play in a motivational seminar.

People like to think they are like dogs, leading the pack, when most of the time they act like sheep, preferring to follow the group than lead their own pack.

Of course, using the term "sheep" is just an analogy; it isn't meant as an insult to the people who buy from us, just a way to visualize the way humans think. Originally, this article was titled "How to Use the Power of Buying Teams and Group Purchasing Decisions to Open Bigger Accounts," but I've found that producers tend to remember the mental picture of fluffy white creatures a lot better. Either way, though, it's something you can use to your advantage. Here's how:

Sell to groups:

Whether you're making sales presentations to prospects within the same company, or speeches at an industry conference, try to seek out occasions to work with large numbers of potential customers at once. The more of them you get into a room, the better your chances of getting them fired up about buying.

Seek out leaders:

We all take our cues from others, to some degree, but there are leaders who set the tone in every group. Convince them first, and most other buyers will fall in line. Learn a little bit of showmanship. By adding just a bit of flair to your sales presentations or public speaking, you make them a lot more effective. People love to be entertained a lot more than they enjoy being sold, so sprinkle in some humor and showmanship.

Learn about personality styles:

As part of my sales seminars, I have students take an in-depth look at how people make decisions differently, and what motivations lead them to buy the products and services they do. The better you understand this, the more you'll be able to appeal to the different segments of your buying group, which might include executives, support staff, front-line managers, and others who might be persuaded differently.

Accelerate the sales process:

Probably the best thing about selling to groups is that once you've persuaded them en masse, they'll tend to move quickly to take advantage by setting follow-up appointments, or even asking for the order, at the end of your sales presentation.

Personal service and one-on-one selling will always have a place in any top producers arsenal, but selling to groups - and treating your customers like sheep, if only a little bit - is a great way to close more business than ever.

By : Carl_C._Henry

Point of Sales Systems Pay For Themselves Pretty Quickly

It often happens in manual processes that inventory related updates get delayed. This often leads to confusion, too. The sales personnel might be thinking that they have the product in the inventory, since it was there on inventory's last review.

But since someone else had bought it, that item is no longer in there. Now, if you fail to provide that item to your new customer, it is not going to be good for your business and your credibility. With point of sale systems, you can avoid such situation, with better inventory management.

With POS systems, moving money also becomes easier even for smaller businesses. Immediate processing of credit cards also becomes easier through POS systems.

One of the best features of point of sale software is its ability to communicate outside the business. The online systems can be used to effectively communicate within the business and also outside the business. Suppliers are also kept aware of all the updates to the inventory. Using online system, suppliers can be sent an alert about the inventory running low.

This will let the supplier know that the inventory is not enough and will lead to quick delivery of the needed inventory. Many manual activities are gotten rid of this way, thus saving time.

The larger businesses which deal in large amounts of inventory get huge benefits from the point of sale software. They also get good huge ROI using electronic POS systems. Points of sale software cuts down manual work and increases customer satisfaction and so pay for themselves pretty quickly.

There are different POS systems available to meet business needs of different needs. You have to choose proper POS software according to your needs and this will lead to greater profits.

By : Ross_Pit

Promotional Stress Balls - Stress Buster Way to Promote Your Business

Stress is something that everyone faces in their life at one point or another. There are virtually thousands of ways that claim to alleviate stress, but the reality of it is, only one solution is the universal answer. When your stress level rises, it can cause long term effects that will stay with you for the rest of your life.

There are quick answers to stress relief, however, and even the smallest thing can help. Since it is a main factor in everyone's life, it's quite possible that your consumers experience it as well. Having customized balls is a way to show your clients that you identify with the trials and tribulations put on us by going through things in our everyday life.

It's important as a company that provides a service to appear as one of the crowd and not alienate your business from your consumer. Custom balls allow your company to show your clients that you understand they might need a little something to deal with tough times.

Promotional balls are best used alone, but when used in conjunction with other promotional products you have a bomb in your advertising repertoire that most companies fail to think about. Identifying with your clients is an important aspect of advertising; without thinking about your clientele you're not really speaking to the people that keep you in business.

Stress balls are great for marketing specifically because they aren't really thought about anymore. Simply because they are no longer used, however, doesn't mean that they've passed their prime. Stress balls are a combination of traditional and modern advertising.

Traditional advertising includes local newspaper ads, magazines, and even throwing flyers. In most cases, the logo of a company is the marker that identifies the company; not a slogan or a motto. Personalized balls show that your company is a traditional business that will stand by its clients.

As a modern means of marketing, the stress ball has a subtle message to each consumer that picks up your logo. A customized stress ball will keep your clients interested in your business for years through excellent and quality construction. Many stress balls are created with quality in mind, which will speak to clients that you have a high standard when it comes to treating your clientele right.

Promotional balls help to further the marketing of your company. With the ability to have personalized balls, a company can easily benefit from a small logo imprinting, a color choice, or a shape choice.

Customized balls give your company an edge over the regular businesses that only advertise through word of mouth or by throwing flyers or handing out business cards because it shows your clientele that you think beyond normal means.

The ability to use stress balls is a way to tell your client that you know about the daily stress that builds up and your company is there so they don't have to stress out - no matter the reason they need you.

By : Rajkumar_Jonnala

How to Get Customers to Buy Your Product - Sales Tips to Sell More Now

Regardless of economic conditions, when you are an entrepreneur or sales professional you likely want to increase your sales. Most people are willing to invest in their businesses to sell more, but how do you get more out of your existing customers? How can you give your current prospects the confidence to invest in what you are offering?

There isn't a magic bullet that will get your customers to open up their wallets and start buying more from you. Even if you are selling to businesses there isn't a magic phrase that will get your clients issuing rushing over to accounting to make sure you get paid.

Getting customers to buy your product doesn't mean taking out a fancy billboard or launching a television ad campaign. Increasing your bottom line rarely has anything to do with advertising (marketing, yes, but not advertising).

I would invite you to consider that there are three elements to increasing sales. Even when you improve just one element you will be on the right path to getting more customers to invest in your product or service.

1. Pique Interest - Most marketing is dull, boring, and you forget about it 5 seconds after you looked at it. When you have interest piquing marketing your prospects will feel compelled to want to find out more. They may go home and look up your website to find more information.

They will search far and wide across the internet to find out how there could be such a great opportunity. Piquing a prospects interest can be done with powerful marketing messages. Put a marketing message that saves people time and money on your website, blog, postcards, magazine ads, etc and watch more customers chase you.

2. Conversion - When most business owners think of conversion they think of "closing". I would invite you to think differently. Conversion is about finding a match between what you are offering and your prospects needs. By asking questions that dig deep to find what is important to a customer your conversion rate will skyrocket. If you should fall into the habits of selling or asking questions customers will quickly run.

3. Make it a system - Getting customers to invest in your product or service consistently means making it a system. Create marketing systems that can run whether you are having a good day or bad day. This could mean putting a pay per click into action, an email follow up system, a regular magazine ad, etc. It doesn't matter what your system is, it simply means creating marketing that runs without your involvement.

When you can pique a prospects interest, focus on conversion and create marketing that runs like a system you will have more customers buying your products or services daily. Just small changes in your daily actions will have your sales numbers growing immediately.

By : Todd_T_Bates

Position Your Offer For Clients Needs

When selling you must offer must be for clients needs. It is not good pushing and forcing a sell on your terms if your prospect has little understand or requirement for you services.

This just irritates and alienates prospects from talking to you. And if you are not talking to anyone, if no one is listening, then you cannot sell anything.

For example, let me tell you about selling an umbrella.

Most business owners, if asked to sell and umbrella, would pick it up, stare blankly for a moment at it then proceed to tell you about how the umbrella opens and that it has an action button, or a wrist strap.

This is the wrong approach. This is selling the features. If you try to sell this way you will not have much luck as no one will care about the wrist strap or the pop up action button.

This is where you must focus on the benefits to how an umbrella fixes a problem for your specific market.

Let me continue the umbrella example to show you want I mean.

Imagine it was raining outside and you are in an area where there are lots of business people walking passed each day. This people might be men in expensive suits or women how spend a lot of money on their hair.

The suits and hair could get ruined in the rain but you have the solution to this problem with your umbrella as it protects suits and hair from being damaged in wet weather.

So if you position your offer for clients as the solution to this problem, you are fulfilling the needs of that market. Do not just describe the physical product or service, tell your prospects how it will help them.

Will it make or save them money? Will it help them work less? Will it save them time? If so how much, give actual figures of what your service can do for your prospect if they buy from you.

By : Jon_James_Daniels

Are You a Sales Phobic Business Owner?

"Success isn't a result of spontaneous combustion; you must set yourself on fire" Arnold H. Glasgow

If you're like me, and most business owners I work with, you started your business because you have a particular talent, skill, or passion; not because you like, or want to sell. Although some sales people do start companies (I believe it's the exception), most business owners have no experience or training in sales.

From this perspective, it's easy to see why resistance to selling quickly becomes a stumbling block to success and more immediately, the cause of much day-to-day stress and worry.

I hate to speak the obvious but; sales ARE the backbone of every businesses success. If you're in the marketplace to make a living, you have to be out there selling - unless of course you have a sales force, and even THEN you still need to be able to sell your own product.

I can't think of a single exception to the rule. It's kind of like what's inevitable about life itself - nobody gets out alive. In business - no body has a successful business without having to sell.

Did you think about having to sell when you first started your business? Commonly, most business owners in the start up stage don't. And if you did think about having to sell, I bet it brought up fear and resistance, and you didn't deal with it.

Am I right? You were primarily focused on developing your business, providing products or services, and creating a marketing strategy, but I bet you really didn't think about training to become a sales person. Why is this?

That's what I'm going to invite you to explore - my assumption that every small business owner is to SOME degree sales phobic. Where does sales phobia come from? Better question yet, what specifically is YOUR sales phobia? What are you afraid of when you think about selling?

Here are some common fears and resistances about selling: Can you find yours here?

• Fear of rejection. Let's face it, no-one likes hearing the word no.

• Negative images of the used car salesman, "what can I do to put you in this car today?" Or, bait and switch tactics often associated with sales.

• High pressure, any pressure. No integrity, talking someone into something they don't want or need, just to get money from them.

• A possible problem with your product - you're afraid something negative might surfacing during the selling process.

• Selling's not spiritual - enough said.

• Lack of confidence, in yourself or, in your product.

Can you relate to one or more of these? No wonder you resist selling! A critical step to understanding and overcoming your resistance to sales is to first pinpoint what it is that you're afraid of. What you're resisting.

What I know about human behavior is -we resist things that we don't want to feel. It makes good sense; we develop this as a self preservation strategy.

But, if you just allow that strategy to keep operating, you have no chance of moving beyond your fears and into meaningful action. In truth, it's not selling per se that you're afraid of; it's what you associate with it. If you look for the reasons behind your fear, you can then come up with solutions and deal with it

Here's a scenario to further illustrate my point. I will demonstrate how sales phobia often plays out. See if you can find yourself in this scene:

You're sitting at your desk with the intention of making sales calls. You know it's a crucial activity to generate business. Your phone is ready; your call list is ready. You're just about to pick up the phone and then it occurs to you.

You left dishes in the sink. You go do the dishes. You get back - then you check email, then you have to get a snack, the phone rings....on and on until you get to the end of the day and have made zero calls.

Unfortunately, this common scenario will go on day after day until you finally conclude that you are just TOO busy to make sales calls. When you find yourself here you need to STOP and get suspicious about what's really going on with you. This is where you will find your fear operating beneath the surface. Let's explore what's going on inside you.

Say for example you discover you have a fear of rejection. Think about where that fear came from. When were you rejected in the past? Find an example. Maybe you'll find you weren't picked for the basketball team.

In that moment when you felt rejected you promised your self never to put yourself in a position to be rejected again. Voile! That's where it starts. Now, fast forward back to the present.

There you are - about to make a sales call and run the likely risk of getting a NO - being rejected. Are you surprised you'd rather go do the dishes than make the call? Here's your old strategy rearing up to protect you to honor a promise you made to yourself long ago.

Where's the way out? Go back in time and reconsider the original rejection. It hurt; you were a little person with a limited capacity to process experience. Perhaps you even made conclusions about life or yourself with not enough information.

In any event, you understandably registered the event as painful. Now, come back to the present and remind yourself that you are an adult. You have a much larger capacity to feel, deal with and process information. Ask yourself, what does it mean for someone to say no to you now -without any of the false meaning attached?

Can you pick up the phone now and make the call knowing if you DO get a no, you're going to be OK?

This is the way out of sales phobia and into sales action. After you face and demythologize your fear, you may discover that you need some sales training in addition to shore up your skill and confidence. That's easy to access. You also may discover the need to solve problems with your product so you can more easily sell with confidence -also do-able.

Decide to face your sales phobia and solve it. Honestly, it's the only way you are going to be successful generating much needed revenue for your business. Turn your sales phobia around. Start today. Go sell.

It's YOUR life...imagine the possibilities!

By : Helaine_Iris

The Best Way to Get Hot Sales Referrals

As a business owner, I deal with outside salespeople on a regular basis. Most naturally ask for referrals at some point after the sale, or in many cases, several times after the sale.

Some never stop.

Here's the problem: The sales reps who get referrals from me don't need to ask. They've earned them in advance, and I offer them up without having to be asked.

Let's take it a step further: When I'm so happy and pleased with a product, or a service, or the quality of customer support I've received, I can't wait to tell others about it! And that's where most of my referrals come from.

Requests for referrals run from the timid, "Do you have anyone you think I can call?" to the pushy, "I've done a good job for you so you'd better give me some referrals," to everything in between.

As I've already mentioned, the people who get referrals from me never have to ask. They've earned them in advance, and I'm happy to provide them.

In my books I talk about the concept of doing such a good job for your customers that they stop thinking of you as a salesperson. They consider you a trusted advisor instead. Once you reach this level of customer satisfaction, you'll likely never have to do any sales prospecting again, because people will be begging to meet with you.

What most salespeople don't understand is that people want to buy your products!* Yes, they really do want to buy! In spite of all the confidence-destroying "how to handle objections" lesson that every corporate sales program teaches (a lesson that causes salespeople to expect objections and therefore get objections), lots of people want what you have. Probably more than you think.

And guess who has access to those people? Yes, your existing customer base! It only makes sense that they have access to similar people. Business owners hang out with other business owners. Doctors hang out with other doctors. And so on. Make a customer very happy, and that customer is going to talk about you whether you ask for a referral or not.

I recently relocated and had to find a new dealer to service my car. There are two in town. One is ten minutes from my house, and the other is over thirty minutes away. I chose the latter and drive that far because a trusted friend referred them to me.

More importantly, I was told to stay away from the other dealer because their service is terrible!

Your customers will give you hot referrals too, if you perform for them. If you don't meet their expectations, they'll tell people to stay away.

There is one situation that you really can't do much about: If you work for a company that has lousy service, you're in a tough spot. I've been there too - I worked in the telecommunications industry for several years, which is notorious for horrible customer service.

If you're in that position, find a new job. If you need to find a new industry then do it. It isn't that difficult - sales skills are the same no matter what you're selling. Human nature never changes, and it isn't that difficult to learn a new product line.

Remember, if you deserve referrals, you'll never need to ask for them. Do right by your customers and they'll do right by you!

*NOTE: There's a catch - you do need to be selling a product that people actually need and want. For example, I got out of the telecom industry when it denigrated into, "We can save you $50 on your monthly phone bill."

Few small business owners can be bothered taking time out of their day to save such a small amount of money. And most know that cheap services are bad services. If you're representing an obsolete product or a dying industry, it's your responsibility to re-educate yourself and find new employment before you find yourself unemployed.

By : Frank_Rumbauskas