THIS KID COULD SELL

THIS WILL BE MY LAST POST OF THE WEEK, I WILL BE AWAY FOR A FEW DAYS AND UNABLE TO POST. PLEASE CHECK BACK NEXT MONDAY FOR SOME MORE GREAT DISHES FROM THE TRAINING BUFFET, HELP YOURSELF.

LORIN

My wife and I took a ride to Kroger tonight to pick up some groceries we needed. As I walked up to the sliding door of the store a young man stepped in front of me and with one of the biggest smiles I have ever seen and a clear loud voice he started a sales pitch.

“Hello sir, my name is Gerome and I hope you are having a great day” he started. I replied that my day was going great and he continued, “Sir, My friend and I are here today raising money for the Teens Against Crime Organization. For every box of peanut brittle we sell, Teens Against Crime gets to keep 95% of the sale for the organization. I know you have probably seen boxes of peanut brittle sell for less but this is the best peanut brittle I have ever tasted. So you get a treat and Teens Against Crime gets to send kids like me and him to camp, school, and trips so we can break the cycle of crime in our neighborhoods.” It was still about 89 degrees out and the sun was still shining, but I stood there and listened to this “kid” give me a GREAT sales pitch.

He wasn’t finished, I am sure that just about everyone he speaks to tells him the same thing, “maybe on the way out I’ll buy some”. This kid was ready, before I could say, “maybe on the way out” he said to me, “I know you have shopping to do, but if while you are shopping you could try and consider buying a box or two on your way out we would be very thankful”.

I have been trying to teach reps how to “explode objection bombs” for years and this kid had it down to a science. Not only did he avoid my blow off excuse, but he tugged at my conscience at the same time. If only he were 10 years older I would have hired him on the spot.

But the story isn’t over. As I walked out of the store he was right there at the door and asked me if I had thought about what he told me. I told him I had but I am watching my diet and couldn’t eat any peanut brittle. Here is where the kid went over the top, he didn’t hesitate a second and said, “If you like you can make a donation to Teens Against Crime, and I have a receipt book for your taxes”.

After hearing him turn my blow off into another closing opportunity I reached into my pocket and handed him a few dollars. He pulled out his receipt book and I told him not to bother. He put out his hand and gave me a hand shake that I would expect from someone three times his age. He thanked me and hoped I had a great evening.

 I know how most of these “sales teams” work, usually there is one adult in a van dropping the kids off in different places and driving around checking on them every now and again. When I got in my car I started driving around the parking lot to see if I could pick out the supervisor and sure enough, in the parking space at the end of the row was a van with an adult in it watching the kids.

I drove up to the van and put down my window. The guy inside opened his door and walked over to me, he immediately asked if everything was alright, I proceeded to tell him how wonderful a job Gerome was doing and how much I enjoyed listening to him. The guy thanked me for telling him, handed me his business card and told me if he could ever help me in any way to let him know.

As I drove away I felt good about meeting Gerome, and felt great about telling his “Adult Leader” (his title on the business card) about him. But most of all I felt good about being a salesman. After watching Gerome I knew that even with all the garbage going on in the world, there are still some good sales reps coming up and my chosen profession will be in good hands.

Lorin

SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN, A STORY OF CHANGE

Last evening while my wife and I were searching for something to watch on TV (like many of you over 200 channels and nothing ever seems to be on) we turned on TCM Turner Classic Movies and one of my favorite movies of all time was just starting, SINGING IN THE RAIN.

When the movie ended I felt as good as I always do after seeing it. Like millions of other people that have seen the movie I said out loud, “They don’t make movies like that anymore”. My wife and I started talking about shows that are on today and movies that have been made recently and how they have changed over the years.

It was during this conversation that I realized something, the movie itself was a movie about change. I hope all of you have seen the movie at least once, but just in case you haven’t (and if you haven’t go get it right now and watch it, now...go..) let me give you a quick story line.

The move takes place back when the switch from silent movies to “talkies” was happening. I will leave out the romantic main story and only give you the back story. A studios biggest couple in the silent movies makes the studios first talkie and the female actor’s voice is ONLY for silent movies.

So let’s first look at the change that I have described so far. An entire industry is making the biggest change in its history. The silent movies with music and word shots are going away and films with sound tracks are taking their place. The movie shows some of the problems the studios had making the change. Everything from microphones that only picked up sound from one direction to outside noise that was picked up on the sound track.

Other obstacles that were thrown in front of the studios were concealing the mics from the camera, props that were used every day in the silent movies made too much noise for sound movies, and finally the actors voices didn’t always sound good enough for talkies.

The movie shows how many of these obstacles were overcome, for instance, microphones were placed in plants and were made part of costumes to capture the actors voice. A walk in freezer was used as a sound proof booth for the recording equipment to block out the camera noise. Voice over’s and dubbing were also solutions that were used to overcome the problem of an actor’s voice not being good enough for films.

Imagine how the actors felt having their whole world pulled out from under them. OH, WAIT… many of you know exactly what this feels like. Top sales reps, just like some of the top actors back then have found themselves in a sink or swim situation. Change or fail! That is what the actors heard and that is what many of you have heard or are hearing or will soon be hearing.

Change usually creates obstacles, obstacles usually create opportunities, and opportunities usually create super stars. Some change happens for us and some happens to us. It is how we react, adjust, learn, overcome, and master the solutions that change brings with it that will make us stars or has-beens.

“I’m dancin’ and singin’ in the rain…”

Lorin

A BOOK SUGGESTION

In my travels I was given a copy of a book I think should be a Best Selling Sales Book. It is titled, “Never Eat Alone and other secrets to success, one relationship at a time” by Keith Ferrazzi, with Tahl Raz.

The paperback book should hit the stands selling in the $11.00 range. If it costs twice that, GET IT! The hardcover book I was given sells for about $16.00. The book is about how successful executives use relationships and networking in all aspects of their lives, personal and business.

I found it to be an exceptional read that will absolutely give you the insight and tools to become a GREAT networker.

You can pre-order the paperback book on Amazon or order the hardcover now.

Lorin

ROOM SERVICE

I LOVE ROOM SERVICE. I always feel so special when I pick up the phone in my hotel, dial the special number and then sit back and have my delicious meal delivered to me on a rolling table in the comfort of my room.

When I have finished my meal I always have the same thought, wow that was so good, I roll the table out into the hall close my door and relax. No crowds, no getting dressed up, no bother just pure pleasure.

Room service is one of those things that make traveling tolerable. But it comes with a price. A meal from room service will cost anywhere between 20% and 50% more than if I went to the hotel restaurant and as much as 75% more than I could get the same food in an outside restaurant. So why am I so willing to spend it? For all the reasons I started this post with! If I feel good about what I am getting I don’t mind spending the extra money.

Now think about your customers, do you think they would spend a little extra money if they felt as good about what they buy from you as I do getting room service? I do! When a customer is anticipating a good experience before the sale is closed their willingness to spend more usually becomes apparent. Customers feeling this way will talk as if they already owned your product rather than considering buying it.

They will start saying things like Should I, Can I, How will I, and my favorite When I. All these let you know they see themselves owning your product. When a customer crosses this line there will very rarely be any more price negotiations, there will usually not be any push back, and most important there will almost never be any buyer’s remorse.

Did I mention that I love room service? Well customers love GOOD service, they love a good product, they love how it feels to own something new and most of all they are willing to pay for all this good stuff.

Lorin

SOP’S

What are your Standard Operating Procedures? Maybe the real question is do you have Standard Operating Procedures? If you are asking what is a Standard Operating Procedure than you have come to the right spot!

Think about something you do over and over again other than make sales calls. I think about mowing my grass. I take the same steps every week when I mow. First I start my mower and drive it to my yard shed. I shut it off and open my shed, open my back gate, fill the gas tank get back on my mower and start mowing from the same place in my front yard. I travel back and forth in the same pattern on my front yard and then drive across the driveway and mow my side yard. When I’m done I pull my mower back under my deck, get out my blower, clean up any clippings that are on the driveway and put the blower away. I close the shed, close the gate, and take a shower! I’m DONE!

These steps are my SOP’s for mowing my yard. Now you need to understand that SOP’s have nothing to do with BEST PRACTICES, they are just the standard way of doing a task.

Now I need you to think about a task you do in the same step by step detail. If you do this with pen and paper you will be amazed how precise you can be listing each step you take. OK now that you have that done, start thinking about your sales presentation. Do you have steps that you take each time? Can you make a list of your sales SOP’s?

I know that my readers are anything but average, however, half of you can’t make a list of your SOP’s because you don’t have SOP’s. What you do is approach every sale differently, you fly by the seat of your pants and take everything as it comes.

I LOVE THAT, except for one thing, you are making a hard job harder. For my beloved readers that have SOP’s keep developing them into the greatest sales presentation possible. For my dear readers that don’t have SOP’s, why not start making your life easier.

I believe in always showing a customer WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) and right now everyone who can’t list their sales SOP’s are my customers, and what I have to offer you is an opportunity to be better at what you do. Right now you are good, some of you are GREAT sales reps I have no doubt. Think how much better you could be if you didn’t need to always be on guard for what you are doing next. Instead of the customer always leading you through the sale, your SOP’s help you lead the customer.

I love sales reps, and I love helping them find ways to maximize their efficiency.

Lorin

ROAD WORK AHEAD

There are so many sayings about how hard it is to succeed that I wouldn’t even try and list them here. BUT I do want to add one more to the list by Dr. Dennis Waitley:

THE ROAD TO SUCCESS IS ALWAYS UNDER CONSTRUCTION!

When I first heard Dr. Waitley say this my thoughts were about how rough the road to success is. Like a highway we drive that is under construction there are bumps, pot holes, and obstacles we need to do our best to avoid so we can arrive at our destination safely.

Then after hearing it said several more time I came to another possibility, DETOURS.

Living in Atlanta if there is one thing I know about it is road construction. We have roads that have been actively worked on for the past 41 years. (Possibly longer but that is as long as I can personally verify) These roads shift, come to an end, make sharp right turns and any one of a hundred other changes.

Isn’t that like the road to success? No two trips take the same exact route. You always need to be ready for changes even if you were in the same place yesterday. A sharp right turn yesterday can be a left turn today and dead end tomorrow.

So if this road is so bad and in such change why don’t we find another route? We don’t take another route because any other route is just as unpredictable and in every bit as bad shape as the one we just left.

There is no short cut to success, there is no way around the construction, there is no bypassing the rough road. You see, unlike any other destination you can head to, there is only one road to YOUR success. It is the road called WORK!

If it were easy we would call it play. If it were easy we would call it fun. If it were easy we would call it mediocrity.

Rather than look for an alternate route, make up your mind to expect the unexpected and be on your toes for the changes in course you will need to make to get you where you want to be.

Is this negative, I don’t think so. I think this is what a good sales rep lives for, the challenge of the trip. Another saying that fits here is, SUCCESS IS A TRIP NOT A DESTINATION. The excitement of the day to day challenge and the joy of getting further and further down the road to success is what motivates a sales rep.

This is as positive a post as I have ever written. I have said something to the reps I have trained for years, “This may not be what you want to hear, but it is what you need to hear”

Put yourself into four wheel drive, strap on your safety helmet, fasten your seatbelt and get ready for the trip of a lifetime. Don’t ignore the orange construction signs, just be ready for the changes they will place in front of you on your journey.

Lorin

GOT APPS

We have all heard about them and I would guess the vast majority of us have seen them with a smaller group already using them, what are “THEM” I’m talking about? APPS! No not job applications but phone applications.

It seems every day I hear about another great app for my iPhone or someone tells me about their Droid and the fantastic apps they have. Seems like apps can do everything from start your coffee in the morning to play a lullaby to your children at night, but can they make sales for you?

NOPE, but they can help. The funny part is the help they provide has nothing to do with what the app does, it has to do with showing the customer the app and getting them involved with your TOY.

I was working with a rep today and he had just gotten his new thing a ma bob phone. He was so excited about it that he was talking about it to anyone that would listen. Some customers were like me and just chalked it up to a big boy toy and nothing more. However I need to admit, most customers were actually interested and listened to him talk about his phone and the apps he downloaded to it.

Now here is why I say they can help you make sales, one customer who started out by saying he was busy and didn’t need anything stopped in his tracks when he saw the phone and was riveted on it as the rep talked about it. I was watching as the two of them got into this deep discussion about this app and that app and how this phone was better than that one. After about 15 minutes the rep asked the customer what he needed and to my utter amazement the customer placed an order.

Will this work on every customer, no, but I saw about 75% of the people we talked to show interest, about half of them took time to listen to the rep and I will say 2 times today it was a direct cause of the customer placing an order.

This goes back to some of the very basics of sales. If you can grab the customers interest, and not only in your product but the customers interest in general, they will listen and give you time. If you are a good sales rep, you will turn that precious time into a sale.

I wonder if there is an app for…

Lorin

A LETTER TO DAD

Dear Dad,

I never thought of you as a sales rep, you were a mechanic, but now as I look back I realize you were a great sales rep.

You did what every sales rep should do, you treated your customers with respect, you always conducted business in an honest way, you treated people like you would have wanted to be treated, and you didn’t take advantage of a situation.

You were also a great businessman, you treated your employees fairly, you paid your bills, and you made a fair and honest profit.

You were a great coach, from my Little League teams to career counseling, from how to be a good husband to how to be a great father.

You were a great father, you were there for me when I needed you and let me make mistakes and always helped me learn from them.

Dad I wish I had told you all these things before you died, but I know you knew them all.

I love and miss you,

Lorin

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Fathers Day. If your dad is still alive make sure you tell him all the things you want to NOW! If your dad isn’t living it isn’t too late, he is listening.

NO THANKS I’M HAPPY WITH WHAT I HAVE

If I have heard this once I have heard it a thousand times. You walk into a customer and before they know anything about you or what you are selling they tell you, “No thanks I’m good” or something to that effect.

Well let me tell you a few things that I have found about customers. In many cases they are telling you the truth when they tell you they are happy with what they have now. Also, 80% of the customers that start out with this statement are willing to buy from you IF you can show them that you are not “JUST ANOTHER SALES REP”.

Let’s talk about my first point. When a customer tells you they are happy with what they have most of the time it means they are happy with what they have. Being happy doesn’t mean being satisfied. Think about why they are happy, maybe the fact that they don’t need to keep looking makes them happy not the performance of the product or service.

This multiple meaning of “HAPPY” leads me to my second point being 80% (or more) of the customers that start with this statement are willing to buy from you if you can show them you are not just another sales rep.

Telling a sales rep they are happy has gotten rid of the BAD REPS, customers don’t want to buy from a bad rep anyway. By showing the customer that you are not like the others and that you have their best interest in mind not just making a quick buck, will separate you from the pack and put you in a position to at least continue the conversation past “I’m Happy”.

The conversation I usually have goes something like this (depending on what sports season it is), “Mr. Customer nothing makes me happier than when I hear someone like yourself tell me they are happy, and I am not here to in any way interfere with what you are doing now. Let me ask you a question, have you ever seen a baseball team with only one pitcher? Neither have I, a good manager wants to have options that will keep the team playing ball at top performance levels in case something happens to their star. What I would like you do is give me a chance to be that backup pitcher. Take a look at what I have so if in the event something happens you know that you have options and understand how my product or service will be able to step in. I can do this now or I will be back in the area next Wednesday and could see you at 3:15, which works better for you?”

My goal isn’t to make the customer unhappy, I just want to get my chance at showing them my product or service so I can explain to them how much happier they will be using my product. The real beauty of this approach is if I don’t make the sale now, it will only be a matter of time. My persistence, professionalism, perseverance, and product will eventually get me a chance to show them what I can do and how well I can do it. Some of the greatest players in every game started as backups, once given a chance they become the star.

Don’t let a simple "I’m happy" keep you in the shadows of the competition, step onto the mound and throw your very best pitch!

Lorin

WATCH YOUR WATCH

I went to the doctor today and I have got to tell you I GOT MAD. Not because of anything he told me, thank goodness I am in pretty good health, but because of the lack of respect he had for my time. The way I look at it is I am the customer, the person with the money, and he is the salesman, the person who delivers products or services. Any good sales rep should respect his or her customer.

My appointment was for 1:30, I showed up around 1:15 as I am asked to do every time I go. After about a 20 minutes past my appointment time of 1:30 I was called back to the exam room where his assistant ask me several questions and told me the doctor would be in to see me in a “FEW” minutes. I learned something from her today, to a doctor a “FEW” minutes means 45!

Now I have been in his office for over an hour past my appointment time and I am just getting to see the doctor. He comes in and starts asking me basically the same questions his assistant asked me. He did an exam and was gone all within 15 minutes. His assistant came back in handed me some papers explaining what I needed to do, gave me my pre-signed prescriptions and told me the exit was to the left.

I had to fight with myself to keep my big mouth shut, but until I had another doctor I felt it was best to pay my co-pay and leave without making a stink.

That was a great story right? Well maybe not so great. As I drove home and started to calm down I started to think about the sales rep customer relationship. I thought about what just happened to me and then realized that I have worked with reps in the field that treat their customers the same way.

I recalled customers asking reps to come back and being willing to set an appointment with the rep just to have the rep ignore the request and keep selling until it got to the point where the customer either asked us to leave or left themselves. I have heard reps ask a customer if this was a convenient time and when the customer said no ignore the customer and keep talking. I have seen reps show up late for appointments or even worse not show up at all. I have watched reps take phone calls, read and send text messages, and send e mails in front of their customers.

It was shocking to me that I could think of so many examples of reps disrespecting customers in so many ways. I was amazed by the fact that the more I thought about it the more widespread disrespect for a customer was.

When my oldest daughter was in high school, she was in the band. Her band director, Mr. Pharris, was an awesome influence on the students. A lesson that he taught every band student from their first day until they graduated was, IF YOU’RE NOT 10 MINUTES EARLY YOU ARE LATE!

Disrespect is not acceptable in any form between a rep and their customer. You need to not just respect their time, but their money, their business, their responsibility, their position, and their knowledge. There is no room for disrespect in a rep customer relationship.

I hate to say it but I have heard reps tell me the customer didn’t respect them and that is why they didn’t respect the customer. Sorry, being disrespected can be a reason for you to decide not to do business with a customer, but never burn bridges. Walk away and leave the door open, maybe not for you, but for another rep.

Every time you are in front of a customer you are not only representing yourself and your company, you are representing your profession. How you act and react reflects on every sales rep that will ever walk through that customer’s door from now on.

As the great Aretha Franklin sang, R-E-S-P-E-C-T!

Lorin

A STRONG FINISH IS THE BEST START

THANK YOU! Two words that can make so many mistakes and misgivings disappear. Thank You, words that we take for granted in today’s business world. Thank You, is a statement that is thrown around like beads at Marti Gras. Thank You, so easy to say, so easily looked over, so easily forgotten.

We hear it every day from someone, Thank You. Sometimes we ask ourselves what are they thanking me for? Sometimes we get annoyed because we expected a Thank You and didn’t get one. I have found myself saying it to myself when the person that should be saying it didn’t. (It sure embarrasses them when I do that)

As sales reps we sometimes find ourselves saying Thank You so much that we take some of the feeling out of the words. We say them sterile and emotionless. We often say it as an afterthought. Sometimes we don’t say it at all.

I have asked you to practice every part of your presentation over the past 10 months that I have been posting. I have said Thank You for reading my blog and Thank You for following my blog. I have said Thank You for following my blog and Thank You for leaving a comment on my blog. I have said Thank You for the e mails and phone calls. But as many times as I have said it I have never asked you to practice it.

Delivering a good Thank You after a sales presentation can make a world of difference. It doesn’t have to be only after someone buys from you. A sincere Thank You for giving you the time to show your product or service can leave behind such a good impression that no’s turn into yes’s.

Couple a good sincere Thank You with a firm and honest handshake and your last impression may be your best impression.

Go to any bookstore and you can find books written on “opening” a sale, “presenting” a product, “closing” a sale, and “Following-Up” on a sale, but I haven’t ever seen a book on how to say good-bye after the sale or presentation.

What does a great Thank You sound like? It sounds like you mean it. It sounds like you are truly appreciative of the person you talked to and most of all it doesn’t come from your order book or wallet, it comes from your heart.

With all this being said, THANK YOU for your loyalty, THANK YOU for your time, and THANK YOU for allowing me the opportunity to share my ideas and thoughts with you.

Lorin

HAPPY MEALS FOR EVERYONE

Let me tell you a quick story that happened to me today. I think it is one of the best moments in my professional sales career.

This afternoon I was in my back yard playing around in my garden when my neighbor Terry came outside with his son Noah who is 6 years old to play catch. Noah is starting T-Ball and he is working hard at learning the game.

I was working on one of my tomato plants when Noah yelled, “Hey Mr. Greenstein watch this”, I looked over just in time to see Terry throw a pitch and Noah hit the ball into the fence between our yards. I have to tell you, it was a good hit for a little guy, it was at least 100+ feet. I did what a good neighbor should do and raved about how great a ball player he was.

He looked at me and said (are you ready for this), “Mr. Greenstein you know a lot about good baseball for a seller”. You could have knocked me over, I didn’t even know he had any idea about what I did but there it was from the mouth of the smartest kid in the US he called me a SELLER!

I like that title, SELLER, one who sells, a selling machine, the selling man, top sell, numero uno seller, I wear the title proudly.

I stopped working in my garden and walked next door to talk with Terry and Noah. I asked Noah if he wanted to be a Baseball Player when he grew up. He told me no, he wanted to be a SELLER like his dad and I was. OK so now this kid has worked his way into my Will.

Terry laughed and told Noah that he wouldn’t be rich being a “Seller”. Terry just got written out of my will. I quickly bent down to look Noah in the eye and told him that he could be the richest man in the world if he became the best seller he could be. Noah seemed to like that a bunch.

I need to talk to Terry about his attitude. He is a rep and has been selling for as long as I have known him and he has that attitude about being a sales rep for a profession. Something is wrong with that.

So to keep this post short, I want each of you to remember my story about Noah. While most kids his age want to be football players, baseball players, race car drivers, firemen, policemen, Noah wants to be a SELLER!

Bless his little heart!

Lorin

STOP BY NEXT WEEK

No, the title isn’t a statement asking you to skip today’s post and come back Monday. (But PLEASE do stop back Monday, and Tuesday, and Wedn..OH you get the message) The title of this post is what most sales reps consider an APPOINTMENT!

I was on the phone with a rep today and he was telling me about the great cold call he made. He was giving me a blow by blow description of exactly how he saw the shop, had to turn around to get back to it, everything from the parking spot he used (this will be a topic on another post soon) to the elevator speech he used to get the owners attention. (Another post very soon) As we were entering the 19^th minute of the call according to my cell phone, he told me he had an appointment set to go back and demo his product.

I was getting as excited as the rep was about this call. It sounded like he had done everything right. I asked him if he wanted to run through his demo with me before his appointment. He was glad I asked and I said, “OK when is your appointment for?” This is where I almost got sick to my stomach. He said, “I can go back anytime next week”. I asked again, “I am sure you can but what day did you set the appointment for?” Once again he said, “Any time next week”.

So I simply asked him, “So are you telling me that you didn’t set a day and time for the appointment?” He nodded and said, “He told me to come back any time next week”.

How many of you have heard that same statement from a prospect or customer? Come back next week!

THIS IS NOT AN APPOINTMENT! Never was never will be. Yes, sometimes if you stop by they will see you just as they promised, some people are like that, but in most cases “COME BACK NEXT WEEK” is the customer’s way of getting rid of you.

I have found that customers and prospects are generally very nice people. I don’t buy the old stories that New Yorkers are hard to deal with, and Southerners are easy to deal with, and West Coasters are laid back, Chicagoites are short tempered. PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE and most people don’t want to be rude and will go out of their way not to be confrontational. Telling you to “Come back next week” is a non-confrontational way to get rid of you and not hurt your feelings. It isn’t an appointment.

Now that we know what an appointment isn’t, we need to find out what an appointment is. All appointment should have a few common features:

1)      A set time

2)      A set day and date

3)      A reason for the appointment (This can be loose but it needs to be set. For instance, “We are going to talk about my product” (loose) or “We are going to cover how my product speed up your sales process” (specific))

4)      You can also set the place and who will be present during the appointment

The more specific you get the better your chance of actually meeting with the customer when you return.

Just like selling, making an appointment is an art. It is something that can be practiced and improved upon by each of us. We need to get in the habit of not accepting “come back next week” as an appointment and start making FIRM appointments with our prospects and customers.

When was the last time you called your doctor and they said, “come in next week”?

Lorin

THE 7 "P"'s - PROPER PRIOR PRACTICE and PREPARATION PREVENTS POOR PERFORMANCE

Many of you have heard of Dale Carnegie but what many of you may not know is Dale Carnegie is one of the world’s leaders in sales development and training.

Today I received an article titled “EASE PUBLIC SPEAKING ANXIETY THROUGH PREPARATION”. After reading the article I immediately saw a direct link between the points being made about public speaking and a sales presentation.

I have made some changes to the article so it will be a little more sales related, enjoy and learn.

MINIMIZE ANXIETY THROUGH PRACTICE AND PREPARATION

Prepare, prepare, prepare. You can never be too prepared for a sales presentation. Knowing your presentation through and through can help boost your confidence while easing your fear and anxiety. Preparation does not just include knowing what you are going to say, it also includes how and why you are going to present the information. Here are some tips to help you create an effective sales presentation.

Open with Confidence
Your opening gives your customer their first impression about you, your company, and your product. Know all you can about the customer and the purpose of the presentation. Find out what they might expect from your product and what they may already know about your product. Consider how you will grab the customer's attention. If you need to deliver bad news, consider ways to connect with the customer from the beginning of the presentation. Be well prepared for the opening because it sets the tone for your entire sales presentation-leave nothing to chance.

Focus on a Few Key Points
Know the major features of your product inside and out. This will help ease your worry and increase your confidence. Don’t FEATURE DUMP! Reciting a laundry list of features won’t move you closer to the sale. Probe and discover which features are important to the customer and feed those items to the customer during the sales presentation.

Support Ideas with Evidence
It is always important to provide evidence to support your main benefits. Supporting evidence will reinforce your benefits to the audience and give you a chance to explain them more fully.

Close with a Call to Action
This will be the last impression your customer has of you and your product. It is important to look at the purpose of the sales presentation and then determine a proper close. Emphasize the key action or actions that you want the customer to take after hearing your sales presentation. This serves as a nice summary of your content and assures they leave with a clear direction.

Remember, Anxiety is Normal
Most people have some presentation anxiety. Remember that people who don't feel some stress may appear to be taking their customer for granted. Replace negative thoughts that creep into your subconscious mind with positive affirmations from yourself and others.

Be Human
Allow yourself to make mistakes. Do not try to be a perfect presenter. A brief pause to collect your thoughts may feel like eternity, but it's not. Tell stories from your personal experiences. Conduct your sales presentations as if you are having a conversation with people rather than trying to sell them.

Ask for Feedback
You will be surprised how much will be positive. Accept and internalize compliments you receive about your product without minimizing them. Remind yourself about what went well rather than what didn't. Focus on one or two key improvement areas for the next time. Not ten or twenty.

Prepare for Future Success
View each sales presentation you give as a development opportunity. Enjoy the experience. Use each sales presentation as an opportunity to enhance your confidence and skills for the next sales presentation.

It doesn’t matter if you are making a speech to club you belong to or making a sales presentation to a customer these tips will help you become more affective and enjoy greater success.

Lorin

BIRTHDAY BREAK

Today was my birthday and I took a birthday break. Come back tomorrow for a new post.

Lorin

AN INTERESTING CARD TRICK

“Don’t leave home without it”, quick tell me what product this is the catch phrase to! Did you get it? I bet everyone reading this knew in a second or less this is the tag line for The American Express Card.

Once I left home and forgot to take my wallet with me. I had my little travel card case with my driver’s license in it so I was able to get on my plane, but when I got to my destination and I was checking into my hotel they asked for my card, I reached into my computer case where I usually keep it and …OOPZ … no wallet. At that moment all I could think of was “Don’t leave home without it” and I don’t have an American Express! I realized then how valuable a credit card is.

Another time I was in my home town and I had just finished reading the first book in a series of books and wanted the next book in the series. I went to the local book store and they were out of it. I was told I could have it in a few days but I really wanted to read it right then. After letting my fingers do the walking for awhile and getting the same answer from every bookstore I called I picked up the phone and called my public library. The librarian put me on hold and in a few seconds came back and told me she was holding the book and would put it on hold for me until I could get there. I gave her my library card number and in a little while I headed to the library to get the book.

When I arrived I went to the hold desk and asked for my book, the woman handed it to me and I went to check it out. I reached into my pocket, pulled out my wallet and couldn’t find my library card. That is when it hit me that I took it out to hold the book and I must have never put it back into my wallet.

At that moment I thought about my trip when I forgot my wallet and I was really surprised when I realized that not having my library card was more stressful to me than not having my wallet while I was out of town. I thought about it and it struck me that my library card was more valuable to me than my credit card.

What a crazy thought but it was true! I knew I could go to a branch of my bank and get cash or a temporary credit card in a matter of minutes but without my library card I couldn’t get the book I wanted to read. The reality is I get more from the book than I have ever gotten from my credit card.

I have written about this before here on the Training Buffet, Help Yourself, reading is the second best thing for the mind, oxygen in number 1. Reading can change your career. Reading can change your world. Reading WILL change your life.

I have quoted my dear friend Charlie “Tremendous” Jones several times here. One of his most impactful quotes ever was, “You will be the same person you are today 5 years from now except for the people you meet and the books you read.”

I know that all of the reps reading this blog have charge cards in their wallets or purses. I will bet that less than half of those reps have a library card in there next to it.

I will end this post with another quote by another one of my professional mentors Zig Ziglar. Zig says, “Feeding the mind is a lot like bathing. It is highly recommended that you do it every day”.

Lorin

TWO CALLS AND A SALE

Have you ever gone shopping and saw something you really wanted? I am talking about something you REALLY want! You look it over and you think about how great it would be to have it and then you see the price. Now you start thinking about how you are going to pay for it. Ideas like cutting back on movies and eating out less all come rushing to your mind. Sometimes you rationalize it and buy the item, however more often than not you can’t see how you can make enough cuts to be able to afford it and let it slide.

I have another method for you to start to use to get these things. Instead of thinking about what you need to subtract, start thinking about what you will need to add!

Here is what I mean. Let’s say rep #1 wants a boat. Rep #1 finds the boat they want and it sells for $10,000.00. Let’s face it, I don’t know many people who could cut $10,000.00 from their budget do you? So rep #1 looks at how much he usually sells a month. The commissions and pay he earns from that pays for his life style as it is today. But remember, he wants a boat! So rep #1 figures how many additional sales he will need to make to be able to buy the boat for $10,000.00. For instance if he makes $1,000.00 per sale he knows he needs 10 sales to buy the boat. Next he asks himself when does he want the boat by. He wants it in 10 months. The rep just set the bar for buying his boat. He needs to increase his sales by one sale per month for the next 10 months to live his normal lifestyle AND set aside enough money to buy his boat.

Now let’s say that in order to make one sale the rep needs to make 20 sales calls. He now knows that he needs to add 5 sales calls a week to the number of calls he is presently making to generate the one sale a month so he can buy his boat in 10 months.

Now let’s say the rep needs to work 15 minutes to generate one sales call. He now knows that he needs to work and additional 15 minutes a day to generate the 5 calls a week he needs to make to generate one sale a month he needs to sell in order to buy his boat in 10 months.

OK this is starting to sound like a children’s song (there was an old woman who swallowed a fly…) but I think you can start to see what I am doing. If I said to you today that you need an extra $10,000.00 in 10 months I know that it would be a very hard pill to swallow (gezz, first fly’s now pills) but by breaking it down to the ridiculous we are able to make a doable plan to get the money.

I believe that a sales rep should have every “TOY” they desire. We work for everything we get and nothing within reason should ever be beyond our reach. By adding instead of subtracting we can help ourselves help our companies. I know a lot of sales managers, if you were to go to your manager and tell them that you are going to be doing whatever it takes to buy your boat in 10 months I am sure they will become your best friend. What manager doesn’t want to hear one of their reps say they are going to work harder, work longer, work smarter and dedicate themselves to increasing their sales enough to increase their income enough to buy a new TOY!

Lorin

IT’S ALL GOOD

I have been working with, training and developing sales reps for nearly 4 decades now. In all my years working with sales reps the most popular question I am asked is, “How can I become a positive thinker”? I usually ask the person what they think a positive thinker is. The answer I get 99% of the time is, “Someone who ONLY sees the positive side of situations”.

This tells me something, 99% of the people who want to be positive thinkers don’t have an idea what a positive thinker is. Ignoring negatives doesn’t make you a positive thinker, it more or less makes you a fool. If you ignore the negatives you are leaving yourself open to failure and defeat.

Being a positive thinker doesn’t eliminate negatives, as a matter of fact it actually highlights the negatives. If you are a positive thinker you see all the negatives and then develop positive plans on how to handle and overcome them. So what I am saying is to be a good positive thinker you let negative ideas mold your actions.

One of the basic concepts I have always tried to teach a rep is to anticipate what negatives the customer will bring up and be prepared to counter them with solid positive concepts. I will usually spend more time thinking about everything that is wrong with my proposal than I do what it right with it. I want to shoot all the holes I can in what I am going to say so I am ready for it when the customer does it. If I get no surprises I can be in constant control of the sales process. If I am in control, I can tell you that I will close the vast majority of the sales.

So Positive Thinking isn’t turning your head and ignoring negatives, it is looking them right in the eye, acknowledging them, and planning for them. As a matter of fact if you are going to be a true positive thinker you will have not one plan but several plans for getting past the negatives. You need to think about what happens if plan “A” doesn’t work? Is this being negative? Nope, it is being SMART! Every plan you make isn’t going to work, every idea you have isn’t a good idea, and every time you try something it isn’t going to work. LIVE WITH IT! This isn’t negative thinking it is reality. Keep in mind being positive doesn’t mean making believe that no negatives exist.

Be positive, not stupid. Be positive, prepare for the negatives. Be positive, by using every negative you can think of to plan your positive responses.

Lorin

LOCKED UP, DROPPED, CRASHED AND WEAK

What has happened to creativity? The changes that have been taking place in the marketplace are a disgrace. What has always been a great cat and mouse game has turned into nothing more than a shell of what it once was. Today it is built in, it is right there on the desk, it is in their in their pocket or purse, we all have the same darn thing and yet, we accept the unacceptable. Oh sorry, I have gotten so worked up about this that I forgot to tell you what I am so upset about. One word, EXCUSES!

Today it seems that everyone has a built in excuse for why they haven’t done what they were supposed to do, TECHNOLOGY! Today I have had 2 separate incidents where technology was used as an excuse. It happened first with the bank. I logged onto my account this morning and noticed that my balance was a little lower than I expected (when I say a little I mean A LOT!) After looking over the transactions I noticed that the bank posted 2 mortgage payments instead of one. I called the bank and the first thing the person said to me after I told them what had happened was, “We have been having computer problems”. I told the person that I didn’t really care about their computer problems but I did care about my MONEY! I was told to hold on and in about 10 minutes the money was back in my account.

The second incident happened at the pharmacy. My doctor was supposed to have called a prescription into the pharmacy for me 2 days ago, when I went to pick it up today there was no prescription waiting. I called my doctors office and spoke with her assistant who was supposed to have done the calling, and as soon as I told her I was at the pharmacy and there was NO prescription waiting she told me that she couldn’t check on if she had called it in because her computer had locked up. She then told me not to worry, she would call it in again right now so I could still take it with me.

Imagine how unlucky I was today to have had 2 problems and both times there was computer trouble. Let’s face it the excuse of computer trouble is a natural today. Everything is on computers and we all know that we have trouble with computers.

Here is the problem that we face as sales reps. Because of this readymade excuse our customers and prospects are able to blow us off at will. They have a built in excuse that we can’t argue with. Or can we? One thing we can do to help minimize this technology excuse is to think of action items that don’t take technology which will help us get to the close of the sale.

This sounds like a giant step backwards, and in many ways it is, but if we can give our customers action items that only require reading hard copies of material we leave them, or filling out forms that are written rather than online we can take the technology excuse away.

I am not saying that technology is bad, actually anyone who knows me knows good and well I LOVE technology and embrace its use. What I am saying is we need to help ourselves by not giving into the new ways until we know better ways than the old ways!

I guess until we have computer that don’t lock up or crash, until we have cell phones that don’t drop calls, and until we have signals that are strong everywhere we need to do what we can to avoid giving our customers another reason to say NO!

Lorin

WHAT HIT ME

What would you say if I told you that right now, I could tell you how much money you had in your pocket? How surprised would you be if I were able to pick your car out in a mall parking lot? Would you be shocked if you received an e mail from me in the next 2 minutes and your driver’s license number was in the e mail?

I am going to guess any of these things would amaze you, and just for the record, they would amaze me even more if I could do them!

I don’t think anyone can predict the future, I don’t think anyone can read minds, I don’t think anyone has physic power. I do however believe that a good sales rep should know what the customer is thinking (sort of).

Let me explain, a professional sales rep usually knows the art of “Question for Direction”. This is asking questions of the customer that will give you the information you need to predict what direction the customer is heading with the sale.

If you ask questions about investment costs and the customer answers without any hesitation with a good knowledge of the ROI of your product or service than you can be relatively certain that the price isn’t going to be a deal breaker at the end of the sale. If you ask about safety or reliability, longevity, ease of use or any other topic the answer you receive should give you a good indication as to what the customer is thinking and where they are going to go as you move the sale forward.

Question for Direction is an old and reliable method used to uncover objections BEFORE they are brought up by the customer. If used correctly you will have no surprises when you close the sale.

I have had sales reps tell me that they “Didn’t See That Coming” when a customer throws an obstacle at them right at the end of the sale. Whenever I hear a rep tell me that I always ask the rep what they asked the customer to uncover the problem before it was a problem. The answer I get most of the time is...NOTHING!

I have done a lot of sales meetings over my career and a fair share of them have been sports related. It is always an easy jump from sales to sports. Let me add one more sports analogy to my long list of sports analogies. If any of you follow boxing you know that you can watch a boxer’s feet and tell a lot about how they are doing. A boxer who is up on his (I say his because most boxers are males, but there are some very good and extremely talented female boxers as well) toes and moving is fresh and in control of himself. A boxer who is flat footed and standing still is tired and starting to wear out. A boxer on his heels is off balance and ready to go down.

Not knowing the direction your customer is going to go is like being caught flat footed, you are on the brink of going down! The next words I usually hear from sales reps in this position are, “WHERE DID THAT COME FROM”? Nothing good comes from those words in sales!

Lorin