The First Step to Stress-Free Selling (TM)

Step 1: Get Ready - Create a foundation you can build on. This step involves prospecting and pre-call planning. Approach businesses randomly and you will: 1) Call businesses unsuitable for your magazine 2) Who don't believe in advertising and 3) Are unlikely to advertise with you. Then appeal to them by doing homework before m contact. You will make sales more often contacting businesses inclined to advertise with you.

Prospecting

Identify the businesses most likely to advertise with you. Then prioritize them. Call your best prospects before your least likely prospects. As adverse as this sounds, many ad reps call businesses who don't believe in advertising or are not interested in their industry or their reader. If this were so obvious to all reps, I wouldn't be writing about it! The fastest way to make sales hard is to call the wrong businesses, and sadly, many salespeople do just this. Start off with the right prospects and save yourself a lot of time.

Your key prospects are found in these locations:

1. Advertisers in competitive publications. This most obvious source is the one you should prospect first.

2. Current customers running sizes or schedules smaller than they are in competitors or smaller than their competitors are running with you are great prospects. After all, they already believe in and like your publication. What a great place to start!

3. Advertisers who used to do business with you. Just because someone stopped doing business with you does not mean they never will again. Many will come back. Why make it later rather than sooner? Stay in touch with them. Maybe the decision maker left.

4. Advertisers advertise. Seek key prospects in other media (newspaper, radio, television, billboard, yellow pages, internet, etc.) If they meet your criteria (type of business, location, their customer is your reader), these advertisers are excellent prospects.

5. New businesses entering your market or industry. If they believe in advertising (you'll find out easily in an initial conversation), get them early? before your competitors do.

6. Referrals are my favorite prospecting source. They are the easiest to sell! You can turn these leads into sales nearly 100% of the time. Don't be among the unfortunate who do not capitalize on this tool.

When asking for referrals, be specific. Don't ask, "Do you know anyone who would be interested in advertising in our magazine?" Your answer will probably be "No." Ask if they know a specific business (have a list of your top prospects), specific type of business, a business in a specific geographical area. You get the idea. Narrow your request and you will help your customers help you.

Make sure the leads are good. Referrers must know the person they are referring well. If they say, "SoAndSo should advertise with you," and they don't know this person, they're right, but this does not qualify as a referral. Just a good idea you probably already had.

Pre-Call Planning

"To me, selling begins with investing time in preparation and planning," Donald Trump.

Determining and gathering the information you need prior to contact facilitates Getting In and helps make first calls successful.

At a minimum, know the key places your prospects advertise before you get in touch with them. Know the size ad they run, their main message, and have copies of their ads. You will learn a lot about them. For example, are they running a consistent, cohesive campaign, or is every ad different in look, content and tone? How organized is the company in their approach to advertising? This will clue you.

Who should you ask for? If your first call sounds like, "I'd like to speak to the person responsible for advertising," you are likely to get them on the phone before you know their name. This does not make you look good. Learn who to call before getting them on the phone.

How long have they been in business? Who is their target market? Find this information and a lot more by visiting their web site or reading their ads. A new business has different objectives than one in business for decades. Does their target market match your audience?

Arm yourself with this basic information about your prospects, and you will make Getting In easier and build trust faster.

Skip this preparatory step, and you will contact many people before you find the ones who are right for you. Why would you want to do that?

Next month, will discuss Step 2: Getting In. Create Introductions that Eliminate Hurdles. Get Past Gatekeepers, Voice Mail and eMail, one of today's biggest challenges. Get Permission to meet with you on your terms.

By Jenaé Rubin

Be Yourself

Here's the thing... you still have to make every marketing and sales message all about the WIIFM* for your target audience. But it's how you do this - the words you choose and your behavior - that makes the connection with the marketplace all about you.

Let's look at what the experts advise. By the way, while these tips sound bizarre -- they're real nuggets, so stay with me:

1. Be an authentic liar.

2. Be your own valentine.

3. Fight bull.

Here's how these successful experts connect with the marketplace - and you can too:

Be an authentic liar. In his latest book, All Marketers Are Liars, Seth Godin explains "the power of telling authentic stories in a low-trust world." Mildly unsettling at first, he makes the case that our buyers are actually the ones who are lying. To themselves. About why they want to buy from us.

Successful marketers are just providing the stories that our buyers choose to believe. But here's the rub: you have to really live the story you're telling. The second a potential buyer smells anything less than complete dedication to what you're selling, you "cross the line from fib to fraud." It's simply not good enough to have a good story. You have to live up to it as well. If you're a cobbler with no shoes, why should your clients take your advice?

Be a role model for what you sell, and nothing less. Then tell a good story about it, to buyers who want to believe.

Be your own valentine. In his hot little book, Little Red Book of Selling, Jeffrey Gitomer takes a tough-love approach to helping us be the best version of ourselves we can be.

My personal favorites are:

? No Whining ("Don't whine to me that the customer won't return your call. Study voicemail. Don't whine to me that your boss is a jerk. Get a new one. Don't whine to me that your company won't give you a laptop. Go buy one.")

? Kick Your Own Ass ("Ever have a bad day? Ever lost a sale you thought you had? Ever had someone say yes to you and three days later just evaporate? Wanna know what to do about it?? Kick your own ass. No one is going to hand you success?that's something you have to do for yourself.")

The heart of Gitomer's message is put your heart into your work?and if you don't love what you sell, go sell something else. No amount of cleverly packaged marketing spin can camouflage a missing heart. Your clients will see right through it and won't buy from you.

Research shows that people buy professional services because of trust. In Gitomer's words, "If they like you, and they believe you, and they trust you, and they have confidence in you?then they MAY buy from you."

Let your heart shine through in your words and actions. If you do, your clients will like, believe, trust, have confidence, and buy from you.

Fight bull. In their recent book, Why Business People Speak Like Idiots: A Bullfighter's Guide, Brian Fugere, Chelsea Hardaway, and Jon Warshawsky give it to us straight. Stop using words that are meaningless, boring, indirect and obscure. Start communicating with your own voice, personality, and style.

How many times have you sat through mind-numbing presentations, meaningless PowerPoint slides, or felt no connection with (no trust in?) the person trying to sell you on their idea, service or product?

So stop. Just stop adding to the bull that piles up every day in business communications. Talk and write to your target audience person-to-person. Ask them simple questions that get to the heart of their wants and needs. Tell them that you've thought a lot about their situation and have some ideas that might help them. And do it without the crutch of slides, silly business-speak, or slick messaging.

In other words, just be yourself.

*WIIFM: What's In It For Me?

References

Fugere, B., Hardaway, C., and Warshawsky, J. (2005). Why Business People Speak Like Idiots: A Bullfighter's Guide. New York: Free Press.

Gitomer, J. (2004). The Little Red Book of Selling. Austin: Bard Press.

Godin, S. (2005). All Marketers Are Liars. New York: Penguin.

Catapult Your Business-How to Get Customers to Chase You Instead of the Other Way Around

I was thinking about the statement:

The Small Business Administration tells us that 80% of all small businesses will not make it more than 2 years, and by 5 years 90% will have gone out of business.

If that is the case, then why does every business out there try to be like the others? Most copy everything right down to the way everyone else in the same industry lays out their office.

The reasons I get from clients



They don't want to reinvent the wheel.

They want to learn from those that have done it because it will save time and money.

Can we then assume that they are all wrong? Yes! At least 80% of them!

Finding How to Be Different Will Bring More Success Faster Than Trying to Be Like Everyone Else

For most companies there is someone just like you on literally every street corner in the world. Isn't it a little hard to get noticed standing in a crowd that all look alike?

If you want to be noticed, don't you have to look different, do something that would make you stand head and shoulders above that crowd?

I'm going to give you two points here that, if you decide to follow them, will make your business so visible that people are chasing you to buy from you instead of the other way around. It will make your business a magnet, pulling customers in.



Find what makes you unique (we'll discuss that later).

Find what is different about the 20% of businesses that are succeeding. (I'm not saying copy them and look like them either. I'm suggesting that they have something we can learn from).

Learn what the other 80% of all business are doing so we can avoid it.

Finding Your Unique Selling Proposition, That Thing that Makes you so visible above the crowd that they are chasing you

When I'm working with my executive business coaching clients I spend a significant amount of our time trying to find what would make my clients different. This one idea alone can make you super successful if you find your powerful unique selling proposition.



List your products/services/features

Let's start a worksheet on a piece of paper. On the far left create a column called Products/Features/Services, and list all of your products, your features, your services down that column. List each on their own line down the left side.



Benefits--Why Buy the Product/Service?

Next to that create a column, label it, "Benefits, What would a client get from buying my product or service. This is an answer to "Why buy my product (service)."

Don't worry about perfection here. This is a thought process that will get better the more you think about it, and until you start writing down your thoughts it isn't going to get better. So start now. This is a process. You'll find that your early answers will be rather weak and wishy washy. You might not think so when you first write them down, but I'll guarantee that the more you review this each time you'll look back and realize how far off target you've been when talking about your product before, and probably still are in the early phases of what we are doing right now.

Make sure that, as you write the answers in each column to the right, that they line up with a product or service on the same line of the first column. So, answer the same question for each product or service.



Why Buy It From Me?

The next column to the right is "Why buy it from me?" In other words, if someone has already decided to buy the product based on the benefit you just wrote in the 2nd column, and IF there really is someone just like me on every street corner, then give a reason why they should buy from you, or even better, why should you be noticed above that crowd on every street corner. A quick suggestion: Before you go where everyone else goes-your answer shouldn't have anything to do with being less expensive. If you go there you'll lose. Everybody else is already there. You'll just be looking like everybody else anyway. Take your best shot at this, we'll come back and get it better later.



Make the "Benefits" and the "Why Buy It From Me" ?.MEASURABLE

Now, the last column:

? Take both the Why buy the product?
? And Why Buy it from me?
? And turn them into measurable results.

Finding the right measurable result is where you'll find your opportunity to stand out above the crowd, where you'll find a statement that will make your company a magnet to customers.

I want you to step back and really look at all of those answers. Did you answer all of the questions based on what benefit the customer really receives? Or was it still about the product/service, was it kind of iffy, wishy washy, weak?.

I'll use one of my client's businesses. He is a business coach as well. I coach the coaches, a business advisor to business advisors. His product is business coaching, training, sales training.

Now for the benefit a customer might receive: It's almost too easy to say education, better skills, but that's not digging deep enough.

Why would the customer want education and better skills?

What is the final result if we keep asking why this, why this, why this until we get to the bottom line.Benefits:

Increased business, increased bottom line, easier to run business. In my opinion that is still a little weak. But let's move on so that you get the idea. And I suggest you do the same. Get the ideas down at first. Then, after completing all of the other columns come back and look at it with the new ideas that will have been generated.

Why buy it from me?

It's a little too easy to say that he gives them training, or does it at a better price than others. If he digs deep enough, he gives them results instead of training. Where most companies provide training for a day, he'll ask the client what he wants and dig for that deeper answer, and then focus on delivering results, not just training. Still not where I want it. It's still weak.

For the measurements:

Small business clients that act on the ideas they generate together double their business in 3-4 weeks, and he'll guarantee a 2:1 ROI on his fee.

Now if I go back to Why buy it from me, and add, "giving results (and how much, make it measurable, do you double a business? A really good coach can.), and doing it in 3-4 weeks" instead of just some time we're starting to reach that really powerful statement.

Using what you find in the measurable part in your marketing, in your elevator speech, you'll find people noticing you for a change. You'll start to see marketing results go up 5-10 times. When you use this in a networking event you'll have the room coming over to find out more.

Most of my clients really balk when we start talking about "make it measurable." They are usually afraid to have to commit to something. And many have never even thought about what kinds of results could be measured.

I'll get answers like "How can I put a measurement on it? I have so many different products. They are so different I can't give you ONE answer." Or, gee I don't feel comfortable committing that I can do that.

I'll not let them get away with that. Pick an average, pick the best you've ever done, the worst you've ever done. This is a thought process. And then let's put something down on paper that you are willing to commit to. Let's write down something that says, "most of our clients will get this?.." "the typical client will get this?.", and "I will absolutely guarantee that a client will get this?"

At first, many of my clients will feel that they are having to commit to something they don't want to commit to. Well, guess what? That's what will make you different. Pay close attention. These are the KEYs to catapulting your business forward.





Very few commit to THE RESULTS they will deliver.

Making it measurable will deliver a product that SO VISIBLY stands out above everyone else that you WILL be noticed.

Everyone else is selling generic stuff on every street corner. Just make sure that your statement is true and deliverable.

Believe me it works. I have people running over to me after chamber introductions to hear more. Or sometimes to say, "You can't really do that?.can you?"

Back to my coaching client example: Sales went through the roof when he was willing to stand up and commit to doubling someone's business, or doubling the output of some specific part of a business, if they, in turn, would just act on the ideas, and then guarantee a 2:1 ROI against the fee. That's measurable. That's a very visible, clear definition of results.

Measurable results in an elevator speech, ads, brochures, wherever your getting out there to be seen will become so powerful of a statement that your business will magnetically be pulling customers in faster than you could possibly imagine.

Alan Boyer, President/CEO of The Leader's Perspective, LLC is considered one of the world's leading breakthrough specialists. Typical results are doubling his small business clients, while hsi larger clients experience doubling the outputs of departments and workgroups. His focus is "multiplying companies." He has worked with some of the worlds largest companies, on multi-billiong dollar projects.

With over 35 years of business experience, he has catapulted businesses lightyears ahead in weeks. Some have doubled and some have jumped 10 times. He claims the key to that is:

Helping the business owners/employees develop the business skills

Helping them overcome the limitations and attitudes that they built between their ears (the self imposed limitations, I can't, this won't work for me, I'm different)

By helping them find the breakthroughs in their business and thinking, he helps companies worldwide reach further than they EVER thought possible?.FASTER

How To Stop Chasing Prospects Forever!

Perhaps the biggest challenge faced by salespeople is the problem of chasing prospects. In this article I'll explain exactly why that happens, and how you can avoid it entirely and make prospects chase you instead.

I once heard Donald Trump say, "In selling, you must never appear desperate. As soon as you look desperate, it's over."

A friend and I were talking about the dynamics of a cold call the other day. When we make that call, we usually hope and expect that the prospect will be receptive to hearing what we have to say. However, salespeople face increasing resistance to cold calling, as well as increasing flakiness on the part of prospects who do meet with them. Instead of thinking, "Ok, this may be interesting," here's what most prospects actually think when they receive a cold call: "Great. You don't know me and I don't know you. You have no idea what my goals are. You don't even know if we need what you're selling, and in spite of all that, you've decided to waste my time anyway with this call."

What is increasingly becoming the norm is to be rejected by the good, solid prospects everyone wants, and to get appointments with flakey time-wasters who will never buy. Flakiness, in particular, is a growing problem thanks to the fact that prospects are increasingly bombarded with endless advertising as well as endless salespeople. When you consider the fact that few prospects actually have the courage to say "no" and instead choose to blow us off and make excuses, it becomes even more frustrating.

One of the main themes I try to teach salespeople is two-fold: 1) You must be supremely confident. 2) You must get into the habit of qualifying prospects OUT instead of merely qualifying them. It is the appropriate response to ever-increasing flakiness and evasiveness on the part of prospects. It's our way of communicating to them, "If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen" in a non-verbal way. The idea of taking the lead and qualifying prospects out is scary at first, and as a result most salespeople aren't willing to do it, but it will save you lots of otherwise wasted time with prospects who aren't really serious, and will free that time up to be spent with prospects who are going to buy.

It's important to start all sales relationships from a position of power, and you do this in two ways: 1) Through your outward presentation. This is easily accomplished by acting very professional and dressing better than your prospects, rather than taking the wrong advice of "dressing like your prospects." It's easy to say "no" to someone with whom you're comfortable, but much more difficult to say "no" to someone who intimidates you. 2) Through your actions. A great example is someone who is squirrely about agreeing to an appointment with you. In many cases, these are the people who finally agree to meet with you but eventually blow you off without buying. When I found myself in this situation, I discovered a great way to overcome it. It goes back to the idea of confidence bordering on mild arrogance, and puts you in the position of power. When you're getting the runaround, something like "Well, we'll let you know when we have time to pencil you in," say something like, "Great, let me know. I'm very busy so I need to know either way - NOW." This will get rid of time-wasters, and with serious prospects, will clearly communicate that you're a serious businessperson, should be taken seriously, and will not tolerate having your time wasted and otherwise being disrespected. It will also set you apart from the competition and greatly increase your chances of getting the sale.

As time goes on and I work with more salespeople, I'm realizing that this idea of being powerful really overrides everything else, and once you can pull it off, it overshadows everything. You can do a poor job of presenting and selling and yet this can carry you all by itself. For anyone who is doubtful about this idea of presenting yourself as overconfident and even a little bit arrogant, I'll go back to Donald Trump since he's famous for his giant ego. I saw him on Larry King, and as they were taking live calls, one of the callers openly confronted him about his massive ego and Larry King jumped on and questioned him about it as well. Donald Trump simply replied, "Have you EVER met a successful person who didn't have a big ego?" After some hemming and hawing from King, Trump repeated the question to him, and King finally said, "No."

Moving on from the idea of avoiding an appearance of desperation and creating an appearance of power, there's another very good reason as to why prospects who are uncovered via cold calling are flakey. This one has nothing to do with us and everything to do with a particular prospect's mindset and level of sales vulnerability to begin with.

Most of us have noticed, at some time or another, that prospects who absolutely refuse to take cold calls and have giant "No Soliciting" signs plastered on their front doors tend to be the easiest to sell to once you manage to get in front of them. There are a few popular theories as to why this is so, the most common one being the idea that since so few salespeople get through to begin with, there is little competition and therefore a better chance of getting the sale. However, I know the real reason behind this.

The reason those people are so defensive against sales pitches and have all those "No Soliciting" signs is quite simple. They are AFRAID of salespeople. They know very well that they have a very difficult time saying "no," and as such they are highly vulnerable to sales presentations and know very well that if a salesperson gets to them, they'll probably buy whether they need to or not.

(I never figured this out until I spoke with an expert on social dynamics who has studied the subject of human social interaction in depth. He explained that the people who act the coldest and most unapproachable in social settings do so because they're overly vulnerable to being seduced and falling in love and therefore are afraid of what someone's advances may lead to.)

Now that we've explained why those people are the easiest to sell to, let's look at the opposite type of prospect: those who willingly take your call and willingly agree to set an appointment.

If those who are easily sold won't take your call and won't agree to meet with you, why would someone be so agreeable to taking your call and meeting with you? Exactly. It's because they have no fear of salespeople. They know right from the start that there's little chance of them being sold. Their openness and receptiveness to your call puts us off-guard. We think we have a great shot at a sale, but in reality we're meeting with someone who is 99% certain not to buy.

Since the people who willingly take cold calls usually don't buy, and the people who usually buy don't take cold calls, what's the solution? Since those who are easily sold almost always meet with salespeople only when they've called the salesperson first and not the other way around, you must get your message across to these people in creative and effective ways other than cold calling.

To those highly desirable prospects who are easily sold, all salespeople seem the same. The only way to win with them is to separate yourself from the rest of the crowd.

The first way to accomplish this is to be that powerful businessperson who needs nothing and deserves respect. I think most of us were taught and have gotten into the habit of treating prospects as superiors and as a result we tend to do whatever is convenient for prospects and otherwise kiss up to them. We are used to rearranging our schedules just to meet with that one prospect. Stop this, and start expecting your prospects to treat YOU with the respect and consideration you deserve as someone who is not only a business equal, but who has the knowledge and wisdom to help them and improve their businesses and their lives.

The second way to stand out is to stop cold calling. Nothing will stereotype you as a typical salesperson faster than a cold call. The way to win with prime prospects is to get your message across to them in ways that don't use cold calling. You'll get in front of the easy sales, and you won't have any competition once you get there.

By Frank Rumbauskas

Unleash Your Inner Sales Superstar & Win More Business Right Now!

It's a rainy afternoon on a typical mid week afternoon and the telesales team isn't firing on all cylinders. Cedric really isn't pulling his weight at all. He's been pushing papers around his desk for most of the afternoon and is having a miserable time. His sales figures are below target, his call statistics are below average and he knows that winning the lottery is as likely as him turning it around before the end of the month. John the sales manager also knows that Cedric isn't performing and decides to run a coaching session with him to try and sort things out. So far so good.

John and Cedric sit down and start to chat. John has read a few books on management and he knows that it's important to empathise and listen to John. After a bit of preamble and a few good questions the two of them actually begin to get quite honest with each other. We pick the conversation up about here?

C: "Well you know. I guess that I'm just not reaching enough new clients."

J: "OK. I respect your honesty. What do you think that we could do about that?"

C: "Well I don't think that it's a case of we, I guess that I am just going to have to reach them aren't I."

J: "Do you mean more cold calling?"

C: "I suppose so."

J: "We mentioned earlier that you need to get 5 visits a week. Based on your ratios how many calls would you need to make to get that?"

C: "25 contact calls or thereabouts. Sometimes a bit less, sometimes a bit more. 30 to be on the safe side I think."

J: "Can you do that?"

C: "Yes. I have to don't I or I'll be back in here. We don't want that!"

J: "No, we don't. Are we agreed that's what you need to do then?"

C: "Yes."

J: "Do you need anything else from me?"

C: "No that's fine. Thanks John."

Fairly common conversation from my experience. John feels pleased that he's helped out and Cedric returns to his desk knowing what he has to do. In most cases I would suggest that he probably does intend to do it. Cedric might even get on the phone and manage to make the calls for a few days but reasonably quickly it all falls down. Why?

As human beings we are driven by our emotions not by our willpower. I'm going to say this again because I think it's worth saying; as humans we are driven by our emotions not by our willpower. Just think about it for a second. Has there ever been something that you wanted to do, something that you rationally planned to do, something that you knew you knew you ought to do but then, for whatever reasons, when it came down to it you just didn't do it? Of course there has! Good examples might be dieting, flossing, cleaning the house, going to the gym and telesales!

Let's say for example that you know that you need to floss every day. After visiting the dentist you sit down and decide to do it. For a few days you floss but as time passes you start to become less consistent until you don't floss at all. Now there will be those of you who did floss and are saying to yourselves, "Well that's not right Gavin, I do floss!" Think of something else then. There will be something. Most of the time our internal representations decide how we feel irrespective of what our conscious brain has decided. What about smoking? How hard do many smokers try to give up yet their emotions constantly overpower their willpower?

Cold calling and telesales are much the same. Many salespeople know that they should be cold calling on a daily basis but when it comes down to it they make excuses and do something else. They may even end up feeling really bad about this (or not in some cases!) but it doesn't make a jot of difference! Ultimately we are driven by our emotions not by our conscious willpower. We all have our own internal constructs of the world and we act in accordance with them all of the time. Our feelings and our behaviours will always be in accordance with our internal construct.

"So what's the point then Gavin if we can't take conscious control?"

Great question! A little bit negative (we'll talk about that later) but great question none the less. When we understand, control and choose what happens inside we take control of the world's most super computer - our brain. If you have read personal development, NLP or motivation books you may have seen explanations of logical levels similar to the one below. I think this is the best way of explaining, understanding and controlling our internal construct and representations.

Identity

Beliefs

Feelings & Emotions

Behaviour cold calling / face to face / presenting

Results

When we fully understand where our internal construct comes from and how it was formed we can start to examine whether it is supporting us or not. If it's not then we can change it. After all, it's yours to change!.

Let's go back to John and Cedric for a minute. When John originally speaks to Cedric what is it that Cedric is doing that attracts John's attention? Primarily it's the fact that he's not getting good enough results isn't it! As you can see we are right at one extreme of the diagram. John will probably already have noticed that Cedric hasn't been making enough cold calls. This would be at behavioural level wouldn't it. Indeed, if John is particularly perceptive he may even think that he knows how Cedric is feeling. This wouldn't be correct as we can never really know what someone else is thinking even if they tell us!

I'd like you to think of typical management coaching session such as the one above between John and Cedric. At what level did the management coaching take place? Mostly at the behavioural and results levels wasn't it. How many calls Cedric needs to make linked to his historic ratios. Solid management and the way most management is done but what about the person underneath? How does Cedric feel about this conversation, his new targets or the prospect of cold calling? Even more vital, what beliefs does he have about cold calling or about this conversation? And, perhaps even more crucially, how does all of this reflect his personal identity? Let's explore Cedric's dilemna a bit further.

J: "Are we agreed that's what you need to do then?"

C: "Yes."

John left Cedric going back to his desk agreeing to a course of action to resolve matters. Cedric's a good guy, committed and focused and he does know that this is good advice. He wants to follow it. Unfortunately, he's not likely to because he's not congruent with this course of action internally. Let's take a peek and see?

RESULTS:
Conscious awareness of desired results
Also aware of the behaviours necessary to achieve them
Not getting the results that he wants

BEHAVIOURS:
Knows what to do and what is expected of him
Has the capability to do the task
Isn't doing the task

FEELINGS:
Doesn't like cold calling
Feels stressed and worried
Hates rejection
Fears picking up the phone

BELIEFS:
Cold calling means rejection
Clients don't want to speak with him
Product overpriced
Not very good at cold calling

IDENTITY:
Too good to be in sales
Didn't' choose sales
He's not like all those second hand car salespeople

Despite this, Cedric does pick the phone up and start to make some cold calls. He is quite quickly met with some resistance from a client who asks, "Are you trying to sell me something?" Cedric instantly feels bad, his speech speeds up, he starts to mumble, he makes excuses and he gets off the call as fast as possible. Alternatively, he might become more confrontational, challenging the potential client as to why he should listen to him. Either way - neither option is great!

In this example Cedric doesn't have to stop to feel bad. He has become unconsciously competent at making himself feel bad in this kind of situation. The more times that Cedric runs this process, the stronger and more debilitating it will become. Cedric will reach a point where he will do anything but cold call. Consciously he may want to but he will have this massive physical reaction to the whole process. Because the whole process is unconscious most of the time we will be unaware of the steps. Let's have a look at what they might have been in Cedric knowing what we know about him so far?

"Are you trying to sell me something?"

Because we personally interpret all events and give them meaning through our filters this question only has the meaning that you give to it. The client may genuinely be interested in us trying to sell something!

Cedric however immediately sees this as an objection. "Yes, yes I am. And I know that you won't want it. No-one ever does."

Note this mixture of mind-reading ("you won't want it") and beliefs ("no-one ever wants it") which causes Cedric to? start to feel bad. As he starts to feel bad Cedric remembers all of the other times he has been rejected? and feels worse still. He then mixes this with his beliefs such as, "No-one ever wants to buy" and "This is like begging for a living".

Finally, he starts to question his beliefs about his own identity and worth, "And that's what I do isn't it. Ring people about things that they don't want to hear about and then try and sell them to them. Why couldn't I have done better at school?"

Cedric now feels terrible and subconsciously wants to end the call. He will probably just bail out and even if he does have a go at dealing with the client's (perceived) objection he will probably do it very poorly and get another bad result to add to his collection of negative cold calling memories! Poor Cedric!

Now reinforced through identity, beliefs, feelings and examples how likely is it that Cedric will break this mould? Pretty unlikely in my experience. Whilst this is a very simple example it shows how we all code our memories.

"Why do our brains do this if it sabotages us in this way?"

To understand this I think you have to consider what the advantages of this process are. Each of us receive millions and millions of pieces of information every day. If we had to process every one of them consciously our heads would explode. Fortunately, we don't as our brains delete, distort and generalise information based upon our previous experiences. This way we don't have to recompute every piece of information every time we come across it. We know for example that a smile means that someone is happy with us. This may not actually be the case but it's fairly useful information in most cases.

The problem when it comes to sales and telesales in particular is that a lot of the constructs that we are using may not be the most empowering ones. If you believe, for example, that the market is overcrowded at the moment then when a client tells you that he already has more suppliers than he needs you are not likely to challenge him as you already know that to be the case. What's worse you will utilise that example to reinforce your construct.

The most effective way to change your construct is to start at the deepest level and work your way up. Working from the inside out often creates a cascade effect because once the identity is changed many of the beliefs and the feelings will change automatically. If your identity was that of a sales superstar would it be difficult to hold the belief that selling is a great career? I don't think so. Try installing that same belief into a someone with the identity of a failing second rate salesperson who yearned to do something else - much, much harder to do.

Exercise: Find at least three other salespeople and ask them how they got into sales.

I love that exercise. When I run it at seminars and trainings delegates create a real energy and buzz talking about their sales careers. Whilst there are some exceptions I am going to predict that the vast majority of people did not choose to get into sales. They may well have said that they "fell into it"! When I ask, "So what did you discover?" someone always says that. Interesting, isn't it. What did you want to be when you were young? Do you remember? Do you remember those parties with the jelly and the sausages on sticks? And then someone would say, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" What did we say? Astronauts, footballers, ballet dancers, firefighters, hairdressers? And do you remember that child in the corner? The one who put his hand up and said, "I want to be a cold caller?" "No?!".

Very few people actually set out to be a salesperson. What effect does this have on our identity of ourselves as a salesperson? I often read about other trainers saying that you should call your salespeople something other than salespeople to avoid exactly this issue. That's fine and it may even work in the short term but surely it's avoiding the main issue. We're all of us pretty clever really and it won't take long to transfer that negative identity to the new word subconsciously I can tell you! What are you going to do - change the title again? Far better to actually deal with the issues and choose a winning identity.

I was reminded of this the other day when I was shopping in Sheffield Meadow Hall. An old school friend came running up to me and said, "Gavin it's great to see you!" Now, it's been a little while since school and I am afraid to say that I didn't actually recognise him however we started to talk. It wasn't long before the subject of careers came up and so I asked him what he did for a living. His answers was somewhat strange. He said something like, "I work with directors of companies to help them to solve problems and improve their businesses."

It sounded quite interesting, maybe consultancy, but I still wasn't quite sure what he did so I asked him to tell me what he did in a bit more detail. "I work with senior business executives at a strategic level to help them to understand where their businesses are now and where they are going. Together we identify potential challenges and blocks and then make recommendations to help them to solve those challenges." I was still not sure what he did so I asked what the name of his job was. He looked coyly around, covered his face with his hand and looking down said, "I'm a sales professional!".

Very interesting. What negative identity has he got associated with being a salesperson? Certainly can't be helping him much.

Exercise: I want you to imagine that I have a time machine and I am going to lend it to you. You are going to climb into it and go back to some time in the past when you were deciding what you wanted to do with your life. Knowing what you know now why would you choose to be in sales? Think about it and write them all down. Why else? Why else? Keep going for at least 10 minutes. For the second part of the exercise I want you to look at your answers to part 1 and write down why those answers are important to you.

There are certainly many reasons why sales superstars choose to be in sales.

Money. You do not need qualifications and you don't have to pass exams to get a job in sales and you can start straight form school yet your income and earnings potential is potentially unlimited.

Flexibility. Selling can create flexibility in employment, working hours and opportunity.

Promotion. Sales is one of the best ways to get up the corporate ladder. Every company loves people that add to the bottom line. The two key professions that do this are accountants (managing the costs) and sales (improving the turnover).

Buzz. Selling is exciting and fun. What other job creates the kind of buzz that you get when you win a new client or fulfill a new contract.

People. Selling is a great way to meet people. What other job pays you to meet new people and become their friends, their business partners and their confidants.

Travel. Selling provides unlimited opportunities for travel. I know international sales professionals who spend more time out of the country than they spend in it.

Toys. Sales people have some of the nicest cars, houses and toys than anyone I know. Let's face it - nothing happens in business until someone sells something. Wouldn't you reward your best salespeople well?

Results orientated. Selling ensures that everyone gets paid on their own merits. You don't have to sit around waiting to make the next grade or support the laziest member of the department. Sales pays you for your results.

And I know that you will have thought of many, many more reasons.

Selling is a great, profession, aren't you glad that you chose to be in it?!

Imagine for a second that Richard Branson were to lose all of his money, his friends and his contacts. As you are walking home from work you seem him homeless on the street with another homeless and moneyless person (I know it really isn't likely!). You have to put your month's salary on one of them being a millionaire within two months. Who would you put your money on? Unless you have money to throw away you'll have put it on Richard Branson like every delegate I ever teach. Why? Because it's who he is - it's in his identity.

Build your sales superstar identity!

Welcome to the first steps on a journey. You won't create a winning identity in one go and you also won't keep it unless you work on it! The forces that created your identity over the years are still out there and you need to now focus consciously on deciding what your identity is and how and when you are going to work on it.

Exercise: Ask yourself who is the best salesperson that I know? If you said yourself, I really would like you to think of someone else now. Someone you admire and whose sales identity would be congruent with who you want to be. Write their name down at the top of a page and then take 5-10 minutes to describe who they are when they are selling. What's important to them and why?

With those answers firmly in mind I want you to imagine for a second that you are them. What does it feel like? How does it help you? What do you learn?

Now, clear your mind and focus on your own identity. Who will you be when you are selling at your best? How will this support you in the achievement of your goals? How much easier does selling become? How much more do you enjoy selling?

Take a moment to enjoy this feeling and then note your thoughts and distinctions into your log. You may even want to write down a personal identity statement.

Ongoing exercises:

1) Identify new sales superstar models and take them for a mental test drive.

2) Revisit your own sales superstar identity regularly.

3) Add to it, improve it and make finer distinctions. The more often you visit your perfect self the more real the experience will become for you.

Have a great month and remember to go out and sell with passion.

By Gavin Ingham

Qualifying vs closing

The art of effective question asking (qualifying) determines the effectiveness and the success of the "close".
EXAMPLE: Let's assume you're a candy sales rep. You sell both chocolate and non-chocolate candy. I'm your potential customer. You know nothing about me but you're trying to sell me chocolate candy. You proceed to tell me how great the candy tastes, how exquisite the texture is, how incredible the quality of the chocolate is, and, by the way, how affordable this candy is because your company is doing a promotion on this outstanding chocolate candy. However, you don't sell me a single piece of chocolate candy. WHY?
You assumed I liked chocolate candy and I would buy it based on the information you provided. But the most important thing you forgot to identify or ask me is "do you like chocolate candy?".
The answer is "no, I hate chocolate candy?". But since you never took the time to understand me as your potential new customer, you lost today's sale and future sales a well.
Better Approach: I'm still the customer, you're still the candy sales rep. You're still promoting chocolate candy. The difference is - upon meeting me and establishing a rapport, your first question might be.

"Do you like chocolate candy?".

My response "no, I never eat chocolate candy".

Your response "you never eat chocolate candy, why?".

My response "because I'm allergic to it".

QUESTION: Do you believe it would make any difference to me, the customer, how the chocolate looks, tastes, is processed, or even how affordable it is? Your answer should be "no". However, just because I don't eat chocolate candy doesn't mean I don't know a number of other people who love chocolate candy. Also, you sell hard candy not just chocolate candy, so maybe the next question would be:

"Do you eat any kind of candy?".

My response "occasionally".

Your response "when you say occasionally, how often is

that?".

My response "2 to 3 times per month".

Your response "when you do eat candy, what type of candy do you eat?"

My response "hard-type, mint candies".

Your response "have you ever tasted our incredible hard, mint candies?".GET THE PICTURE? "Its all about asking, not selling." Once you have identified what's important to me, the customer, you have positioned yourself to sell me what I want - not what you have.

5 Small Steps To Ultimate Sales Success

"Selling worth doing is worth doing badly ? at first!" ~ Gavin Ingham, 2002

Have you ever wanted to learn something new but just found it too difficult? Or started something but gave up because you just couldn't get the hang of it? Or maybe you just find the thought of ringing new clients far too scary? Perhaps you sometimes get great results but don't know what you're doing differently? Could you be stuck in your ways?

If any of these could possibly be true then this article is for you.

Everyone would agree that the ability to learn, understand and utilise new information, strategies and behaviours is important particularly with a topic such as sales where you may well have tried before with limited success. In order to help this process it is important to understand the learning process itself and the stages through which we develop new skills, behaviours or attitudes.

Whenever we learn anything new we go through 5 steps.

Sometimes we will do this so quickly that we may be unaware of the process whereas other times we may be made much more aware of the process by our emotions. Understanding this process, why we do it, the pitfalls and the strengths will allow you to maximise your learning capabilities.

Step 1) Unconscious Incompetence. You are unaware of what you don't know. You don't know all that you don't know!

Step 2) Conscious Incompetence. You become aware of what you don't know. You're ignorant and you know you are!

Step 3) Conscious Competence. You become aware of how to do things properly. You can do something but you have to be concentrating on it.

Step 4) Unconscious Competence. You are unaware of how you do things you know. You do things without even thinking about it!

I think one of the best ways to really understand this process is to consider a specific situation such as learning to drive. Do you remember learning to drive? I think that most of us do! It was for most of us a fairly sizeable landmark in our lives so it tends to stick in our memories! I certainly remember learning to drive! Like most teenage lads it meant a lot to me - freedom, adulthood and sex appeal!

On my 17th birthday I dragged my mother out to the car and hopped in to have a go. I knew that I would be able to drive! I had been watching others for months in preparation - this was going to be easy! How unconsciously incompetent was I?! I was totally ignorant of how difficult this was actually going to be! Ah well, ignorance is bliss. Easing into the seat I grasped the wheel, started the engine, depressed the clutch, punched the accelerator and ? stalled the car! Not deterred I had another go ? same result. Another ? another ? another.

Suddenly I was overtaken by the dawning recognition that this was going to be really difficult and challenging. Welcome to conscious incompetence! Gavin you're useless and you know you are! But I was determined to learn to drive so I persevered and practised. After a lot of heartache and effort I eventually reached the point where, if I could maintain my concentration, I was actually quite a proficient driver. Now I don't know if you remember your driving test? I do. There was so much to concentrate on wasn't there! Keeping your hands at 10 to two, mirror, signal, manoeuvre, the examiner, the speed limit, the road signs and that's without mentioning the other road users! Remember taking your test and that's probably a fair gauge of conscious competence!

"Now you really go out and learn to drive!" That's what everybody said to me when I passed my test and they weren't wrong. Your whole concept of driving changes. You don't have to focus on every little detail all of the time infact you might not have to think about it all. Have you ever driven somewhere got out the car and thought ? how did I get here? I don't even remember driving here. Welcome to unconscious competence! Fabulous the way that the brain works isn't it!

Being able to operate at unconscious competence clearly has many advantages. We're able to multitask, we generally operate fluidly and easily, it's within our comfort zone, it's stress free, it's the way we do things and for most people we spend the vast amount of out lives here. Just think about it for a moment. How many things do you now do that you once had to think about consciously. Walking, talking, picking things up, bodily awareness, writing, driving are all great examples but we also become unconsciously competent at responding to certain stimulus in certain ways. If I were to walk into your office and say, "Right! Time to make 100 cold-calls" you'd probably be unconsciously competent at producing a feeling and a response. Maybe not a very nice one! When a client snarls, "That's too expensive, you must be having a laugh!" chances are that you will also be unconsciously competent at producing an emotional reaction.

So unconscious competence does have disadvantages too. We are unconscious or unaware of our responses or our behaviours therefore we may gradually change what we are doing and be unaware of it. We may find it very difficult to teach others our skills because we are not aware of how we put them together. Maybe we continue to do things in a way that used to be unconsciously competent but external changes now mean that what we are doing is now wrong. And here's the challenge and the danger of unconscious competence. When does unconscious competence become unconscious incompetence? It's very difficult to say for sure because the one commonality between the two is that we are unconscious!

Reacting in a certain way to a certain stimulus may be right for one situation but it may be wrong for another. Take the example above of the snarling client. Many salespeople would feel frustrated and angry without having to think about it. When we unconsciously learned this response there may well have been good reasons for it however I'd suggest that if you want to be a sales superstar then this kind of reaction is unconscious incompetence. One of my first clients used to frequently tell his salespeople that they should sell products that were a 50% match and that if they couldn't they were bad salespeople. Maybe in his day the clients were happy with this kind of product but in today's competitive markets they certainly would not be! Maybe this boss was once unconsciously competent but changing market conditions, changing client attitudes and his lack of flexibility had left him unconsciously incompetent. Most dangerous of all was the fact that everyone in the business knew it but him!

So it's clear that if we are doing things unconsciously we need to periodically step back and have a look around to see if what we are doing makes sense and is getting us the results that we want. If it is great, if it's not - change it for something that does work.

But if unconscious is where most of us are most of the time conscious incompetence is what most of us try to avoid at all costs. When you are learning a new skill or behaviour and you reach conscious competence how does it feel? Take a bit of time to think about it. Typical associations with unconscious competence are feelings of stress, frustration, challenge, obstacles, pain, outside your comfort zone, lack of control, uncomfortable, fear and uncertainty. When we think about ringing new clients on the phone this will often occur the moment that you step outside of your comfort zone and have a go. Indeed this barrier is so great for many people that they would rather give up than actually break through. But the human mind is a clever animal and it won't punish you for this - nope! It will give you reasons, other things to do. It will rationalise, explain and help you to feel OK. As you slip back to unconscious incompetence you will feel perfectly great because ignorance is bliss!

To achieve anything worthwhile you must break through this barrier. And you can! As children we achieved some absolutely amazing feats. One of the most impressive was learning to walk. How many times do toddlers fall over? Thousands and thousands but the one thing that you can count on is that they always get back up again. Crawling for the rest of their lives is never an option - they are going to walk just like the rest of us. It's a certainty. Yet as adults we're not so resilient. We don't tend to push, push, push our limitations. Infact there are many people who, even with the weight of the medical establishment behind them, fail to teach themselves to walk again properly after an accident even though physically they could. Somehow life and growing up seems to programme us to not try as hard.

There might be many reasons for this however I think that one of them is the perpetuation of the win / lose culture in our society. There can only be one winner and for every winner there must be a whole group of losers. You often cannot win unless you've beaten someone else. Now don't get me wrong I do not subscribe to the no competition brigade - that's just sop - what I do believe however is that we should create ways for us to win by being the best that we can be. In cold calling many salespeople set unrealistic targets that they are never going to hit because they have benchmarked someone else. Had they benchmarked themselves they would have found that they were winning all along.

On the other side of the coin we need to realise that everything in life is a learning experience. Eddison's much hyped quote as he failed to invent the light bulb for the umpteenth time was that he had eliminated another way to not make a light-bulb! In sales we have to accept that we will continue to be put through the learning experience for the whole of our career. As a director, author, business owner and sometime sales guru (!) I believe my sales ability to be a real asset to my business however I am constantly put through learning experiences. And I wouldn't want it to be any other way. My feelings as yours are telling me something. They are reminding me to be prepared to practise and to make sure that I am at the top of my game.

So how do we break through from conscious incompetence to conscious competence?

Persistence.
Determination.
Self-belief.
Drive.
Tenacity.
Repetition.
Add your own here!!!

But if I was to say to you, "Hey look! Just go out there and be tenacious, persistent, determined and have drive!" you'd tell me to tell you something that you didn't know! And quite rightly so! Because we all know that this is what's required - it's maintaining it that's the challenge.

I was reminded of this when I first started sales coaching. I was working with a client who had a small telesales team. Two of his staff were organising a campaign focused on a specific niche market. They were targeted to make 100+ outbound calls per day, to speak to 25 decision-makers and to organise at least 2 interviews. For the market they were working in this was about average. One of them was very positive and was consistently surpassing his target. He was a joy in the office and great to have on the team. The other however was really struggling, not good around the office and mostly fairly negative. I wasn't specifically working with these chaps and therefore hadn't really spoken with them much but we had been introduced. One afternoon as I was sitting there I found myself alone with the chap who wasn't doing so well. I asked him what he was doing and how it was going. He turned to me, scowled and said, "I'm cold calling, what's it look like! It's awful!" Needless to say I left him alone.

About half an hour later the other chap went to make a coffee so on a whim I followed him determined to ask him the same question. As I asked him he turned to me and smiled, "I'm developing an new and essential part of the business. This project is going to get me into major account sales and get me noticed within the company. I should be promoted within 6 months. It's hard work but I know that it will be worth it!" Interesting! Same job, same opportunity, same potential clients, same products - totally different meaning.

The meaning we attach to things determines the impact that they have on us. When you attach a strong personal meaning you don't have to remind yourself to be motivated or persistent, you just are. The successful sales professional in the above example doesn't constantly have to harry himself to be motivated because he knows why he is doing the cold-calling and he knows what it means for him. He'll still have days when he feels less motivated, outside his comfort zone, challenged and uncomfortable but he will view them differently because he will accept them as part of the essential development process on his journey to success.

Exercise: Take a moment to review your goals. When you've done this make note of why setting up client meetings plays a vital part in helping you to proactively achieve these goals. If one of your goals is materialistic, try getting a picture of it and sticking it by your phone. Every time you make a call think to yourself - "one step closer!".

Top Tips for the 5 Steps to Sales Success

1. Look around at what you habitually do and how you habitually react once in a while.

2. Most things worth learning will feel uncomfortable or challenging at some point.

3. Practise, practise, practise!

4. It takes several week's worth of telesales to beat your fear.

5. Challenge yourself one step at a time.

"But Gavin - you said there were 5 steps."

Correct. And in my opinion there are.

I have been teaching the 4 steps to success now for several years and in several different forms and I have used it successfully in individual coaching sessions with both myself and others. Powerful as I know that it is I believe that the fundamental construct has inherent challenges?

If many times we find ourselves back at unconscious incompetence despite our best efforts or we have to keep dropping back to conscious competence to check ourselves then we are performing below our potential. There must be a better way?

Step 5) Mastery. Mastery is something more than unconscious competence - it has an extra, somewhat mystical quality. It's the sort of state that most of us only experience once or twice in a lifetime - you probably never quite know how to describe it. Top athletes would call it being in the zone. I remember the first time I saw it in action. I was nearly 13 and the athlete in question was Sebastian Coe. He smashed the world record for 800m running 1 minute 41.72 seconds, a time nearly two seconds faster than the next fastest person ever. But it wasn't the time - it was the way that he ran it. Majestic, graceful, relaxed. He made it look easy! Of that race Seb himself said,

"Other sportsmen say there are moments when they are outside themselves, watching from the stand, as it were, and I've only experienced that in the 800 metres."

I believe that we all have the potential to enter this state if only momentarily and I believe that this is the state that top salespeople reach when they are playing their best possible game. When I present, this is what I strive for and, having achieved it a few times, I can say no more than that once you taste it you know that you have the tools to recreate it and become the best that you can possible be.

Exercise: Describe what cold calling will be like when you achieve a state of mastery? What will you be doing? Feeling? Thinking? What is the one most important thing that you need to learn to help you to move towards mastery right now?

By Gavin Ingham

Get Leverage & Increase Your Sales Results Immediately!

Have you ever started something and not completed it? Or maybe there's something that you know that you should do but you just don't seem to get around to it? Or perhaps there's something that you know would benefit from more attention / more focus but you just don't give it the attention that it deserves?

For a lot of business people this sums up the selling experience!

Most people that I speak to who are involved in sales freely admit that they don't focus on new business enough or that they frequently put off new business generation to do something else instead. This seems surprising when every business person knows that new business generation is essential to helping them to hit target, push them over target or build the business that they desire.

Given this - why is it that we so often don't take action?

A large percentage of people that I speak to complain that sales isn't seen as professional and that they don't consider themselves as doing a professional job. When I ask them when they last read a book or attended a seminar on selling, communications or motivation they look at me like I'm stupid.

90% plus haven't read a book in the last year and ?well over 80% have never read a book on selling!

Is it any surprise then that they feel unprofessional?

Question.

Would you consider a brain surgeon with no training and who had never read a book or attended a seminar? I don't think so!

So why is this the case?

I believe that it simply comes down to leverage. We often know what we need to do but it's just easier not to do it. Think about it for a second. Have you ever thought that you really needed to so some cold calling? You maybe got the client list together, got yourself a coffee and sat down to do it. All ready to go but then you ended up going through your email inbox! I think every business person has done that because sometimes it's easier just not to do it!

As we're still at the start of 2005 I decided today that we should focus on what you want and on how to get leverage so that you feel compelled to take action right now. Record the results of your findings in your sales success log and remember ? the more detail you go into, the greater the leverage ? the greater the leverage, the more the call to action.

But before we do this? consider the fact that according to all of the statistics - you are about to catapult yourself into the elite group of sales winners!

Why?

* 90% of sales people don't buy books or listen to audios

* 90% of books / audios won't be read / heard past the first chapter

* 80% of readers / listeners won't take any action

That means that if you read AND take action you will be part of an incredibly elite group! Interested?

Where are you now?

No seriously! Where are you now? When I work with individuals and teams I have discovered that it takes an incredible amount of courage and honesty to really investigate where we are currently. In life we all live in our own perceptions of the world - prejudiced by the spectacles that we habitually wear. If you are going to make a radical difference to any area of your life it is essential that you break through this barrier and be honest with yourself. Only by taking this crucial step will you get what you want.

Over the course of the next few minutes I am going to ask you some questions. The more time you take to really consider these and think through the answers, the more they will help you to get leverage. I strongly recommend that you record the questions and the answers into your Sales Success Log (SSL).

Questions to Ask Yourself

What is the most pressing issue or challenge that you face with new business generation at the moment?

If you were to know, what is the biggest issue that you need to resolve at the moment such that if you solved it you would make a major breakthrough?

Sometimes this question isn't so easy to answer. Keep asking it of yourself over and over. Let's face it, if this was dead easy, everyone would do it and then you'd only be keeping up not getting ahead!

Typical answers include:

* I don't have enough time to generate new business
* Making excuses
* Fear of rejection
* Not confident enough
* Not enough training, knowledge, support, back-up etc.
* Market depressed
* Client rejections
* Price
* Existing supplier relationships
* No database
* Unqualified leads
* And many, many more?

Am I sure that I understand this issue fully?

Sometimes the presenting issue is not the real issue at all.

Before we carry on you need to ensure that you have a full understanding of the issue at hand.

* What is really going on here?
* How long has this issue been going on?
* Have I always considered it a challenge?
* How bad are things really?
* Is this worth working on?

For the rest of this exercise I am going to use fear of rejection and not having enough time as my examples. I will be basing my answers on typical answers given by coachees in sessions that I run.

Fear of rejection. "Before I even make the call I am worried that the client will reject me. I wasn't always worried about this. When I first started selling I didn't care at all. I guess that I started to feel this way about 3 months after I started. I seem to get rejected much more often now and, if I'm honest I do very little new business generation. This is definitely worth working on as my lack of proactivity is effecting my business."

I don't have enough time. "I think that this is more wrapped up with the fear of rejection. I am very busy but generally I do make excuses when it comes to cold-calling. If I didn't have the fear of rejection I am sure that I could find the time. I started finding things to do as soon as I started to win my first clients and things have really got pretty bad now. If I were to lose a client I really have no back-up as I haven't been focusing on new business generation at all recently."

What is the Impact of This Problem on Me?

Now? I said that you had to be honest! Ask yourself?

* How is this problem currently impacting on me?
* What results am I getting due to this problem?
* How are these results impacting me; my team; my business?
* When I consider this impact how do I feel about it?

Remember to consider each incidence separately.

Fear of rejection. "I'm not doing hardly any new business generation. I know that this is impacting my potential client base. I used to bring on new clients quite regularly but I can't remember the last time that I brought on a really new client. My team don't really see me as a new business winner and I know that the boss thinks that I only "cherry-pick" easy business. his makes me feel annoyed as I know that I can be better than this. What's more I think that I am less confident in my dealings with existing clients and this is impacting my potential revenues."

I don't have enough time. "Because I don't make the time to generate new business I am sabotaging my own chances of success. When the others are doing business generation I am usually doing administration. I'm not really part of the team because of this and it upsets me."

What Future Consequences Will Your Problem Bring?

Quite often when we don't do something right now it doesn't really matter. Doing exercise today or not doing exercise today will do little (or nothing) for your fitness levels, your physique or your health. When considered over a larger period of time however daily actions such as exercise will determine massive differences in the results that you get.

When considering your actions and their consequences you need to look at the long-term. It's important that you take time to really think through and picture these consequences. The more real they are for you, the more leverage for change will be created.

Questions to ask yourself?

* If nothing changes in your current situation what will the consequences be?

* What's the likely outcome of your continued action (or inaction)?

* What consequences will this have on your sales career, finances, business, promotional prospects and self-esteem?

* What's at stake for you?

* How will others such as your family, friends and acquaintances be affected?

* How do you feel about this course of events?

Fear of rejection. "Ultimately, I will not have enough business coming in and I will probably be sacked or go bust. No business can survive without new sales. I have been quite ambitious in the past and have taken on loans for cars and a new house. If I don't make the sales then I could easily lose these. My industry is quite small and it would not be good for my reputation or future employability if I were sacked or made redundant. I would hate the thought that I had failed to do my job. If I lost my house it would put an incredible amount of pressure on my family life too as we are hoping to have a baby next year."

I don't have enough time. "If I don't create the time to generate new business I won't make any sales and I will lose my job. This will make me unemployable as my reference would be poor. I wouldn't be able to keep up the car payments or my mortgage. This would create massive family tensions and personal stress."

Take Personal Responsibility

People often ask me what the differences are between great salespeople and sales superstars. This is a truly great question which, I believe, has several answers. High up on my list would be that sales superstars' take personal responsibility for their success no matter how hard things around them may get. Only by taking total personal responsibility can you become totally accountable for the results that you get.

Keeping this foremost in your mind consider how you contributed to the current situation or problem?

I totally accept that your initial answer may well be that you didn't contribute. For many people this way of thinking represents a quantum leap in their habitual behaviour so it may not come easily.

Keep asking yourself?

If I knew, how have I contributed to this current situation or problem?

Fear of rejection. "I have allowed myself to fall prey to my own imagination and become fearful of generating new business. I have focused on the times that I have not succeeded rather than the times that I have. I have listened to people around me who are not getting results rather than focusing only on those who are peak performers."

I don't have enough time. "I have allowed myself to make excuses and rationalise my own behaviour because of my fear of rejection. I have listened to and adopted the mindsets of other salespeople who are making excuses rather than taking action."

Do You Want to Change Now?

Before we start talking about what you want instead I think that it's important to know that you do want to change now don't you. So take a moment and consider?

* What you will gain when you resolve this situation?

* What results will you begin to get and why will you enjoy them?

*How do you feel about your decision to move towards a satisfactory solution?

Fear of rejection. "When I let go of the fear I will be able to generate new business confidently and professionally. This will allow me to take control of my own destiny whatever sales challenges are thrown into my path. I will begin to create new client relationships, new sales and new opportunities. Knowing this makes me feel alive and ready to get going."

I don't have enough time. "I will gain the ability to choose how I spend my time rather than being dictated to by my irrational fear. I can concentrate on planning my sales campaign so that I gain maximum benefits from my efforts. I feel excited at the possibilities ahead."

You + 100% Commitment

Many times in my programmes I ask you to commit yourself to action. In the minds of sales superstars there is no greater commitment than to yourself. Grab your Sales Success Log and answer the following questions?

1. What is the most powerful and congruent step that you can take right now?

2. What's going to get in the way of you taking it?

3. How are you going to deal with this challenge?

4. When will you start and complete this step (put a date on it)?

My suggestion is that you sign and date your commitment to this step.

Welcome to the new you ? let's get going!

By Gavin Ingham

Body Language, Five Key Ingredients

When making your living in the sales industry, and working with people, it is important to not only get your point across verbally, but you want to allow for your body language to send a clear message as well.

Your body language consists of many key ingredients, but here are the five that are considered to be the most important, along with a description and a few tips to improve your skills.

1. Eye Contact

When you are speaking with a customer, or potential customer, look them in the eye, it will show that you are a confident person, and that you are confident in the product you are selling.

2. Hand Shake

When you shake someone's hand, grasp it firmly, and give no less than three good pumps. This will once again give your customer the indication that you are a confident person, and that you are genuinely glad to meet them, or see them.

A limp hand shake, better known as the "dead fish" is a way of telling your customer that you are not interested, it is a major turn off!

3. Appearance is key, and many studies have confirmed this. People prefer to deal with sales people who present themselves well in appearance. The mind set of the customer is, if this person doesn't take care of himself, how can I expect them to take care of me?

Would you buy a food product, or utensil off of a person with grimy fingernails? It sounds kind of harsh, but it is the truth.

4. Smiling

Smiling, the easiest thing to do in the world! Smiling is contagious, and it puts your customer at ease, and puts a nice upbeat inflection in your voice.

5. Good Posture

Good posture also shows the customer that you have confidence in yourself and the products that you sell. It also speaks volumes about your personality. Anything less, such as slouching, makes you look like a slacker, and will give your customer the indication that you don't believe in your product, and that you would prefer to be somewhere else, and doing something else.

These are the five main ingredients to having good body language, and it isn't very hard to master these skills. In fact you can practice on your friends and family without them even knowing it.

Once you master these skills, they will begin to come effortlessly, and before you know it, they will be second nature to you, and your sales will ultimately increase. Good Luck!

By Jay Conners

Simple Technique for Isolating Objections

To isolate any objection quickly you can use this effective and powerful sentence - "Aside from "that" is there anything else?"
Here's how it works: You're a water softener salesperson, I'm your prospect. In the qualifying steps of the sales process you have identified a few concerns that I've shared with you:

1. Cost
2. Financing
3. Company Credibility

Let's review and address these individually

You say: "Teri, you mentioned three areas of concern - cost, financing, and company credibility. Aside from these 3 concerns, is there anything else?"

My response: "No."

Your response: "Of these three, which is most important to you?"

My Response: "Financing."

Your response: "When you say financing, could you be more specific?"

My response: "I have recently emerged from bankruptcy and am concerned about being approved."

Your response: "Aside from bankruptcy, are there any other financial issues?"

My response: "No."

Your response: "OK, if financing is your primary concern and we can work that out, would you move forward on completing the application process today?"

My response: "No."

Your response: "Is there a specific reason?"

My response: "Yes, I'm concerned about the total cost of the unit."

Your response: "When you say the total cost are you referring to the total cost of the unit and interest - or are you referring to the monthly investments?"

My response: "The monthly investments."

Your response: "Let's talk about what would be comfortable for you on a monthly basis so that I'm in a better position to help you move forward and not only receive the water softener but begin the process of repairing your credit as well."

My response: "OK."

Your response: "The monthly payment will be determined by three things: The down payment, if any, the term of the financing, and the interest rate. Will you be putting any money down?

My response: "No."

Your response: "What dollar amount between $100 and $200 per month would you be comfortable with?"

My response: "$125.00 would be comfortable."

Your response: "OK, if we're in a position to finance you with no money down and payments of $125.00 per month, would you move forward with completing the application while we're together today."

My response: "Yes."

You're probably wondering what happened to the company credibility issue. It really wasn't a concern at all, as identified when continuing to isolate the real objection - MONEY.

Recap: The purpose of this simple, yet powerful sentence ("Aside from "that" is there anything else?"), is to eliminate all objections prior to the "close."

Sales Trap - We Love to Talk, But Need to Listen

My research has clearly shown that, when it comes to selling, the part we're most comfortable with is talking about what we do - explaining our services and how we can help the client.

So what do you think happens in most sales encounters? That's right? we tell 'em what we do.

Problem #1 - Clients don't really want to know what we do.
Not to start with anyway. Usually they first want to know that they can trust us and that we comprehend their situation. They also want to understand 'how' we can help them. This is different to knowing exactly 'what' we do. To achieve this we need to look at what they want to achieve, and what their concerns are.

Problem #2 - When we're talking we're not listening.
It's a fact. People can think many times faster than they talk. This means that when you're talking, your client can think about lots of other stuff (like their next appointment, or your unpolished shoes). So keep your client focused by getting them to do the talking.

Control the sales encounter with questions. By using a structured questioning sequence you can move from initial exploratory questions to high-impact outcome oriented questions. When done properly this creates a harmonious exchange between the seller and the client. It's not a matter of interrogating the client, or forcing them to make a quick decision.

As the salesperson (whether you be a consultant, partner, owner or manager) the overriding temptation is to start explaining what you do. Often this includes mentioning previous clients and interesting outcomes you have achieved. But does the client care? Not always. And not ever if what you are saying is not relevant to them.

The secret to selling like a professional is to listen closely to the client. Find out as much as possible that might be relevant to your service. Ask questions about their expectations. Then when you have that knowledge, discuss only the aspects of your service that have a direct bearing on your clients stated needs. Use this 'inside knowledge' during your presentation to highlight why you are the best choice as service provider.

And when you finish your presentation and need to gain a commitment from the client, ask another question, or suggest the next step. "Would you like to sign the agreement tomorrow?" or "Can we meet next week to finalise these last few issues?"

With a bit of practice you can replace your old sales monologues with a meaningful exchange of information that leaves your client wanting to work with you.


By Stuart Ayling

Making Sales is Easy When You Learn How to Make Friends

Friends buy from friends. Why? Because people trust that their friends will go above and beyond the duties of a typical salesperson. They know that their friends will give them friendly, honest help and provide them with the product that is perfect for their needs. In return, these people develop into loyal customers who are happy to support their friend's business with continued sales and referrals.

So how do you take advantage of this wonderful sales cycle? You must change the focus of the sales experience on making a friend rather than making a sale. When you focus on making a friend at all costs, you will find ways to serve your customers beyond the scope of what you do in your business.

This type of exceptional service is what will get your customers talking positively about you after the fact. They will enthusiastically tell everybody they know about you, your company and your excellent service. These testimonials are the most effective form of advertising you could ever have for your company. By making one friend, you will create customer loyalty that will boost your sales as they continue to buy from you and recommend you to others.

In order to be friends with your customers, you must take the time to revaluate several key aspects of how you interact with them.

Do you value your customers?

Your customers do you a great service by contacting you. Think about it. If a customer contacts you or stops into your place of business, they have already paid you a wonderful compliment. They likely have heard that you do good business or that you have the solution to their problem.

Return that compliment by respecting your customers and letting them know that you are honored that they have given you the opportunity to earn their business. Recognizing the important value of each customer will establish the loyalty that will keep your friendships and sales numbers growing.

Do you truly care about your customers?

The only way to become friends with your customers is by caring about them as a friend would. You must listen to your customer's concerns and understand the meaning behind their words. Everything from your tone to the product that you recommend for them should reflect your sincere desire to make them happy and to solve the problem that they brought to you.

Because this type of attention and service is so rare in business today, you will create relationships with your customers that are just as rare. This unique relationship will be the driving force behind their purchases.

Do you treat your customer as you would want to be treated?

Your customers come to you because they need help and they trust that you will be able to supply them with the information they need. Do not take advantage of that vulnerability and belittle their intelligence while speaking with them. Avoid phrases that may sound condescending. After all, knowing every intricate detail of your product is your job, not theirs. Your mockery and disrespect will be evident to your customer, and will be sure to end the possibility of their friendship and business.

Treating your customer like a friend also means letting go of many of the techniques typical salespeople may use. Do not fall into the trap of trying a manipulative sales trick on your customer. You do not like it when it is done to you, so do not do it to your customer. If you are focused on your customers needs, there will be no need for finding a manipulative way to close the sale.

Employing manipulative sales processes and formulaic closing techniques insults your customer's intelligence and paints you in a shadowy light. This is obviously not good when it comes to earning their trust, their respect, and, most importantly, their business.

Making friends with your customers is an easy way to ensure a sales experience where everybody wins. Your customers will feel confident buying from a friendly and trustworthy business, and you will enjoy the benefits of new friendships and continued sales.

By Tom Richard

Do You Have to Be Aggressive to Make Sales?

A few weeks ago I was onsite at a company that had hired me to train their sales team on how to stop using traditional selling and start using the Unlock The Game? sales approach.

After one coaching session, one member of the sales team came up to me and said, "Ari, your approach makes complete sense -- but I'm afraid I'll lose sales if I stop being aggressive and start being passive!"

Whenever I hear a comment like that, I want to scream, because it means that the person just doesn't yet understand that removing pressure from the sales process doesn't mean being passive!

But...I didn't scream. I took a deep breath and then explained that Unlock The Game? is the reverse of passive.

Rather, it's an active attempt to create pressure-free conversations with prospects.

However, to do that we must eliminate behaviors and language that prospects can perceive as "aggressive."

We all know what these are -- continual e-mail and voicemail "followups" in which salespeople try to pin down the status of a potential deal -- is one common example.

The problem is that prospects react to aggressive, or perhaps we should say "overaggressive" sales behaviors by withdrawing and evading us.

We could say that Unlock The Game? actually takes the "middle ground" between passive and aggressive by being authentically unassuming, yet effective - and that this is the most stress-free and effective way to sell.

What do I mean?

I mean that you have to shift away from assuming that every prospect is a fit for your solution.

It's sort of like the legal concept of "being innocent until proven guilty."

We can't afford to make any assumptions about "fit" until our conversation with the prospect indicates that we've mutually arrived at that conclusion.

The aggressiveness that turns off prospects sets in when you assume, every time you pick up the phone, that you have a solution for them.

Your tone of voice and language gives them that message long before they've even had a chance to agree that they have a problem you might be able to help them solve.

But if you can manage to find that middle ground of not assuming anything while also communicating in a low-key, unassuming manner, you'll discover a whole new effectiveness you could never have imagined.

Can prospects sense when you're assuming too much?

Sure they can -- because most of us have been conditioned to present or talk about our solution as a way to engage prospects so they'll reveal their problems to us.

But that logic is completely flawed, because when you launch into your solution to someone who doesn't trust you yet, all you do is allow them to pigeonhole you as a stereotyped "salesperson."

So how do you make this concept of being unassuming but effective a reality?

First, learn to start conversations by focusing 100 percent on generating discussions around prospects' problems, rather than pitching your solution the second you hear an opening.

Second, learn to begin those conversations by converting the benefits of your solution into problems that your solution can solve.

Third, after you and your prospects have identified a problem or problems, you can then engage in a discussion about whether fixing those problems is a priority.

It's only at that point that prospects have finally given you implicit permission to share your solution with them.

Jumping in with solutions prematurely will only land you back in the trap of being perceived as "aggressive."

With a Masters Degree in Instructional Design and over a decade of experience creating breakthrough sales strategies for global companies such as UPS and QUALCOMM, Ari Galper discovered the missing link that people who sell have been seeking for years.

His profound discovery of shifting one's mindset to a place of complete integrity, based on new words and phrases grounded in sincerity, has earned him distinction as the world's leading authority on how to build trust in the world of selling.

Leading companies such as Gateway, Clear Channel Communications, Brother International and Fidelity National Mortgage have called on Ari to keep them on the leading edge of sales performance

Increase Sales - Overcoming Barriers

Ever thought to yourself, "If only my team members would complete the tasks that we mutually agreed to in our action plan."

Most managers have felt this way about certain employees at some point in time.

Let's face it, some employees have a very hard time consistently executing tasks that "should" be relatively simple to complete.

So what are the barriers getting in the way of their success?

Actually, there are several types of barriers - but perhaps not the typical sort of barriers that you may be thinking.

Barriers can be classified in three major categories. Each category identifies strong barriers that, if not quickly identified and corrected by the team leader, can negatively impact the progress of your team.

The Three Major Types of Barriers are: (Hint: Remember A, B, C)

A-ttitude Barriers

B-ehavioral Barriers

C-onceptual Barriers

Attitude Barriers Every employee must take ownership of his or her own attitude.

A manager is NOT in charge of anyone's attitude except her own. If an employee has a poor and non-productive attitude and is not willing to correct it, that is a personal choice and that person needs to be held accountable for that decision.

Quite simply, there are too many quality people who are willing to learn and add value to an organization, for a leader to invest time and money on anyone who makes the conscious "choice" to portray a poor attitude.

Keep in mind, if a leader does NOT hold team members accountable for non-productive attitudes, then he/she has in essence told the team "it's ok".

Employees' displaying poor attitudes is NOT ok. A leader should never allow herself to be seen as "sanctioning" this kind of behavior.

Here is a great way to communicate expectations about "owning your attitude" to your team.

Go to any hardware store and buy the largest coat hook that you can find. "The Hook" will be a visual reminder to your team members that you expect them to leave any personal issues or poor attitudes on this hook prior to beginning their day.

(Suggestion: You might want to paint The Hook a bright silver or gold color, and perhaps even mount The Hook on a nice piece of stained wood. Hang The Hook in a common area, away from customer view, where employees will see it often and be reminded throughout the day about your expectations of leaving poor attitudes on The Hook - as they do not belong anywhere in the workplace.)

When you introduce "The Hook", and your expectations relating to attitude, you might say something like:

"Rest assured, if you each will make sure to leave all your personal issues on the hook each morning when you arrive, I will take personal responsibility for guarding it on your behalf. I will watch over it for you throughout the day, and I promise that every night when you are ready to return home, it will still be there - just waiting for you to take it back home with you. That is my solemn promise to each of you." :)

Behavioral Barriers

Behavioral barriers equal actions not taken or completed, which hinder the achievement of maximum results.

Behavioral barriers refer to an employee not completing critical sales management tasks as expected - despite having mutually agreed to do so.

Managers spend most of their time coaching to behaviors - working to increase results of the mid-level and low-level producers.

Examples of behavioral barriers include techniques, strategies and skills such as:

Prospecting
Profiling
Telemarketing/scripting
Overcoming objections
Asking for the business
Closing the sale
Following up and managing the relationship

Leaders who are very successful in overcoming behavioral barriers follow this three-step approach in this sequential order:

- Managers must TEACH employees what behaviors (actions) are expected

- Managers must COACH employees to build their confidence to master sales management behaviors

- Managers must EXPECT and hold employees accountable for completing the desired behaviors on a consistent basis

Conceptual Barriers

Conceptual barriers are the absolute most difficult barriers to overcome.

Conceptual barriers are the barriers that are right behind the eyes, DEEP within the brain. "Beliefs" which were planted at a very young age and re-enforced over a long period of time - which is why they are so hard to "dislodge".

Here are a few quick examples of conceptual barriers:

(Think back to your own childhood. Were you ever taught any of the following rules?)

- Don't talk to strangers
- It is impolite to talk about money
- Never interrupt important people
- Wait to be asked

Now think about what you are asking your sales people to do.

- Telemarket (cold call)
- Profile/Prequalify based on ability to buy
- Create new relationships

Do you see how many of the things we were taught as children fly directly in the face of today's daily sales management expectations?

It is no wonder why some folks have such a difficult time adopting certain routine sales management practices. They are quite literally "handicapped" by a belief system that limits their potential for success.

As a leader it's your responsibility to approach performance issues with a clear understanding of these predetermined belief systems. Armed with this knowledge you can more quickly address issues in a way that can help both the sales rep and your entire organization.

By Richard Gorham