IT IS BUZZ TIME AGAIN

In the past I have reposted articles from Salesbuzz.com, an e newsletter I subscribe to written by Michael Pedone. Today he has hit one out of the park and I know it will valuable to many of you.

ENJOY!

SALES QUESTION:

"How Do You Deal with Anxiety Before Each Cold Call?"

Answer:

Cold call anxiety happens when at least one of these two things is present:

•             Lack of confidence

•             Fear of rejection

You can psych yourself up all you want to make calls but if you are constantly being rejected when selling by phone, eventually no matter what you tell yourself or do to get all jazzed up before making the dials, the rejections will continue and eventually selling won’t be very fun anymore.

And when selling isn’t fun, you’re in real trouble. Like, “Can't make the mortgage payment because I haven’t hit quota in 3-months” trouble.

You can try and find ways to stay positive in everyday negative sales calls but that never addresses the real issue of what’s causing the “rejection” (which causes lack of confidence and fear of further abuse / rejection… it’s a vicious cycle)

There are two schools of thought on this subject:

1.            Its part of sales, deal with it or get out

2.            Its largely preventable (I’m in this camp and have years of experience behind me to prove this scenario exists)

When your cold call rejection rate is high, instead of accepting it as part of sales, why not ask yourself “why am I getting rejected a lot?” and refuse the answer of “that’s the way sales is” because it isn’t.

There’s a difference between being “rejected” and a prospect not being “qualified”

If your “rejection rate” is high, that’s a big arrow pointing to your sales process (what you say, when you say it, how you say it, why you say, who you say it to, etc.)

In essence, your game plan (sales process) isn’t working and you need one that does.

The first place I would look to revamp your sales process is within the company you work for… who’s the top sales person month in and month out? Learn what they are doing and follow their sales process.

If that isn’t an option, find someone else who has already accomplished what it is that you want to accomplish and learn from them.

The “A” Factor

Once you’ve found a sales process that produces the level of results that you want, your confidence will jump and commission checks will grow. But every once in a while you’ll still make a sales call and get a prospect on the other end of the phone that will just rip you a new one.

I’ve seen too many salespeople (myself included) take a working sales process that has made them lots of money just to start tweaking the heck out of it because of one prospect that read them the riot act over the phone. This is a mistake!

A mentor of mine taught me a long time ago to never let the "A factor" change what you know works. When I asked what he meant by the A factor, he said when a prospect is being an @ss! (Actually, he was a little more verbal in his description, but you get the point)

Fix your sales process until you have repeated success with it. And when an occasional call goes bad, you’ll have the confidence to know it wasn’t anything you did and you’ll be able to move on to the next call without an ounce of anxiety.

Michael Pedone

I hope this will help you and you have found it to be as useful as I have.

Lorin

ONLY THE BOLD SURVIVE

“Fortune Favors the Bold”

Virgil

If Virgil was a businessman instead of a poet he might have said, “Sales Favor the Bold”!

A large portion of successful selling is attributed to putting yourself in the position to make a sale. That’s right, PUTTING YOURSELF IN THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME! At times putting yourself into this right place means you need to be bold.

BOLD, not rude, not pushy, not dishonest, BOLD! This means that you may need to walk down the hall that is unmarked, it means you may need to walk past a receptionists desk as if it were not there, it means you may need to go into the back door. Whatever it means to you being bold is a big part of sales success.

In previous posts I have said not to give the credit for success to luck. You work hard for the success you achieve. Blaming failure on being timid is just as bad.

Unfortunately I know that some of the reps reading this post will take boldness and turn it into all the negative traits that sales reps have been accused of for years. If you are thinking in this way I can’t help you except to tell you that selling may not be a good fit for you.

If you are reading this and can think of a dozen times over the past year that you could have been bolder and possibly walked away with a sale, then you are the target of this post.

Be BOLD! Be very BOLD! And enjoy the success you earn.

Lorin

All comments are welcome and will be published. Let me know what you think about the Training Buffet, help Yourself.

A BOOK WORTH LISTENING TO

I have posted several "Books worth reading" over the time I have been writing the Training Buffet, Help Yourself. Today I want to change just a little and instead of telling you about a book, I wnat to tell you about a seminar on CD's.

BORN TO WIN; The ultimate Seminar by the GREAT ZIG ZIGLAR.

Below is the link to the Amazon link:
http://www.amazon.com/Born-Win-Ultimate-Zig-Ziglar/dp/1442339683/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1346121415&sr=1-3&keywords=zig+ziglar

Once you listen to Zig, you will be hooked!

Keep in mind, as always, this CD Book is available at most of your local bookstores so shop around.

Lorin

SHAME, SHAME, SHAME

I know better, in fact, I have been teaching reps to do it for the past two decades. Why didn’t I take my own advice? How could I have let myself fall into such a rookie trap?

Oh, sorry, I was giving myself a mental “GIBBS SLAP” (if you don’t know what a Gibbs Slap is look up NCIS) I needed a good swift kick in the seat of the pants!

Allow me to explain why I need all this punishment. I allowed my priorities to change without a plan.

Each day I have a set of activities and tasks that I know will lead me to achieving my goals. These activities and tasks are prioritized to allow me to complete the items that will have the most impact on my goals. Posting here is one of my main priorities. I know that by sharing information and giving the readers tools and thoughts that will make them better it will come back to make me better in turn.

Zig Ziglar says, “You can get everything you want out of life by helping others get what they want out of life”. The new term that seems to be popular today is “PAYING IT FORWARD”. This blog is one of my ways of paying it forward.

I have been very busy with my new position in my new company. I am out in the field selling every day and building a territory. I am using all the tools that I have been teaching other to use.

However, I have allowed new priorities to totally push some of my basic beliefs aside.

How many of you have done the same thing? How many of you have found a new task or activity that has made you sway from your basics and trek out on a new path?

Please don’t misunderstand what I am saying. Trying new things, taking new paths, and finding new adventures are all good things… if and only if you have a plan! If something new enhances your plan for success, then go for it! But if you fall into the trap I fell into and change things just for the sake of change, you are off track.

We work hard building out businesses, either face to face or electronically, don’t lose sight of what you have been working for. THINK before you shuffle your plan to accommodate an activity. Ask yourself will this task or activity move me closer to my goals faster, will they allow me to achieve more of what I have been working towards, will they enhance my quality of life (work or personal)?

If you answer yes to any ONE of these questions you need to reorganize your plan and priorities, if not, get back on track and back to your basics.

Lorin

THE PARTYS OVER

Last night I watched the closing ceremonies of the Olympics. I watched all the performers entertain what may be the greatest assembly of athletes ever. It was awe inspiring to watch all the replays of games and thrill to the victories over and over again.

Like a child starting out for their first gymnastics class, I sat there and pictured myself on the winner’s platform receiving my Gold Medal. I thought about what it would be like to win an Olympic Gold and wondered what I would say when the microphones were pointed at me.

Then my daughters little dog jumped in my lap, crawled up my chest and started licking my face which brought me back to reality. (I must have had some of my dinner on my cheek, the dog seemed very excited to be licking me)

It didn’t take long for me to start thinking about the Gold Medal again, this time however I wasn’t thinking what it would be like, I was thinking what it WAS like. I have won Top Sales Awards and have been on the winner’s stage several times before. I have had the microphone pointed at me during national sales meetings and had to answer the question, What does it feel like to win?

As the dog continued to lick my cheek (I must have had a lot of dinner on my face, I wonder why no one told me about it…a question for another post) I came to the conclusion that sales reps are competing at the Olympic level every day! We go into our territories, offices, phone rooms or wherever we sell from and go head to head with our competition time after time on a daily basis.

Like the Olympics, every time we compete, someone gets the GOLD and someone is out of the medal standings. Like the Olympians, we all know both feelings all too well.

The biggest difference between all of us and the Olympians is we don’t need to wait 4 years to “Go for the gold” again. Our next Olympics start as soon as we reach out, in whatever manner we use, to our next prospect.

 Like tens of millions of other people around the world, I am going to miss the excitement and energy of the Olympics. The good news is as a Sales Rep I will have the excitement and energy of selling to take its place.

Lorin

IT LOOKED GOOD ON PAPER

Once again I spent the night watching the Olympics. For the past week I have been glued to my television every night until midnight watching some of the most spectacular athletes in the world compete.

I have also been listening to some of the “so called” expert commentators tell me about what will happen, is happening, and just happened. Last evening during the Ladies Gymnastics Finals, the two leaders were within tenths of a point from each other going into the final event. The commentator said, “no matter how I look at the numbers, the USA should win by a minimum of 1/1000 of a point”.

Now I believe that future actions can sometimes be determined by past performance, however, 1/1000 of a point? The expert commentator was using the gymnasts past scores and performance scores to predict the outcome of last night’s competition. ON PAPER the young lady from the USA should have won.

 In sales, how many times have you walked into a “PERFECT PROSPECT” performed a “PERFECT PRESENTATION” delivered a “PERFECT CLOSE” and walked out with “PERFECTLY NOTHING”! I know I have not once, but a hundred times.

The question is what made us think they were a “PERFECT PROSPECT” to start with? In most cases it started ON PAPER.

We do our homework and look the prospect up on the internet. We check each point on our checklist;

The right type of business for our product or service                       CHECK

The right size for our product or service                                             CHECK

The right credit history                                                                           CHECK

The right number of employees                                                            CHECK

Name of the right person to talk with                                                  CHECK

Confirmed appointment date, time and location                               CHECK

Yada, Yada, Yada                                                                                       CHECK, CHECK, CHECK

EVERYTHING looks PERFECT doesn’t it? Then why no sale?

Just like sports, selling isn’t something that can be done strictly on paper. The attitude of the athlete like the attitude of the sales rep needs to be right for a PERFECT PERFORMANCE or PRESENTATION to be delivered. The attitude of the prospect needs to be PERFECT for a sale to be made.

All the preparation and hard work that got us to the opportunity to go for the gold has to be executed with PERFECTION.

There are so many “human variables” that neither sporting events nor sales can be predicted on paper. There is only one sure way to know the outcome, PLAY THE GAME, DO THE PRESENTATION!

Last evening the prediction of the commentator came to be, Gabby Douglas won the GOLD MEDAL in the Women’s All Around and stood on the medal stand for the United States.

While Gabby was winning her gold, thousands of sales reps around the world were also competing for their gold. Some only won on paper, others stood on the medal stand and collected their reward.

Lorin