THE MONTHLY SELLING NEWSLETTER WITH IDEAS TO SELL MORE NOW
May 2014
The Selling Quote for the Month
“That which proves too much, proves nothing!”
–German Proverb
For Salespeople…
Think about a recent sales call. Did you only talk glowingly about your products and services? I’ll bet that if you only talk about what’s wonderful that you’re not selling as much as you could. Why? People tend to be skeptics when it comes to salespeople. They won’t believe just glowing testimony. There is a concept called “reluctant testimony.” It is introducing slight negatives that are secondary or inconsequential that detract from you or your product. An example is a storeowner saying, “Well, we’re open on Sundays, but only from noon to 5PM.” Who really needs to shop on Sunday morning anyway? You should be thinking about how to incorporate a detracting characteristic into your sales presentation. You’ll be more believable and you’ll sell more, too.
Blogs & Other Columns
Learn more sales strategies from my column as a sales expert for Allbusiness.com.
Other Columns:
The Real Deal, a column on women in business for Allbusiness.com Hope you’ll read more ideas so you can achieve your success in business.
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The Selling Ideas for this Month
How to Have A Long & Successful Sales Career
Selling is the easiest job in the world. Just ask anyone who is not in sales. You know what I mean. They think what we do is gab to a lot of different people. I forgot one more thing. Most people think we golf a lot. Well, maybe the golfing part is true, but selling is a challenging career. If you want a long and successful sales career, there are things you need to do to ensure your continued success.
Take a break. There are some people who think that the more they work the more they will produce. To a point they are right. I challenge a sales professional who wants to compete with a sales superstar and work only two hours a day. When you make better quality sales calls for eight hours you will do better than someone working far fewer hours. But then, what about the other extreme?
You can’t work seven days a week. That’s a mental exercise in exhaustion. I challenge you to isolate at least one day a week where you are truly free of your work. I don’t turn on my computer on Saturdays. That’s my oasis in my work week. What’s yours?
Ask for help. No man is an island and that’s especially true in the world of sales today. Sales are complicated with more choices, sophisticated customer information and requirements. That means selling comes with unexpected challenges, too. At some point you’ll need help with a computer problem. Maybe a credit problem or delivery problem will surface. You should be asking for help when you need it. That of course means that when you don’t need help you are strategically building alliances with people in other departments. There are those people who treat senior management different than lower workers. That’s a bad idea if you’re in sales. When you need help it’s more often going to be someone who can do the work who will help you. Be nice to everyone so when you need help you get a yes response instead of no.
Take care. Then there’s the issue of rest. Do you know that Americans are sleep deprived? That’s what the National Sleep Foundation found in a 2010 study. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey in 2009 found that overall, more than 1 in 10 people, or 11.1 percent, did not get enough sleep or rest on any night in the past 30 days. That’s not good for sales.
Sleeping enough is only part of what you can do to take better care of yourself. Look at your calendar the past week. Did you do something that brought you joy and you didn’t have to do? I ask that question in programs I deliver that are designed to strengthen the attitude that salespeople need to be successful in sales.
You are your most important customer. The scholar Hillel was right. He said, “If I’m not for myself, who will be? If I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?” Selling is a balancing act of your needs along with your customers’ needs. You are the key. Without taking care of yourself, you can’t take care of customers. How well are you caring for yourself? If not now, when?
Best wishes for your selling success!
Action Items
1. What’s your call scedule look like? Does it need to be balanced or do you need to cut back?
2. What project are you working on that others might help you with? Ask for help now.
Did You Know?
Here’s a tip this week for your sales success.
So I never assume, here’s a brief list of services I offer.
A. Consulting/Coaching/Mentoring
By hour or by project.
- Plan sales call strategies
- Develop effective proposals that prevent “low price” shoppers from picking your competiton
- Reduce the stress of working for a difficult manager
- Shorten the time for a new hire to be productive
- Design customized selling tablet app
- New ideas to sell more
- Develop questioning strategy to shorten your sales cycle and increase sales
- 90 Day Performance Plan for new sales hires to be productive faster and increase retentionFor info, please see Consulting/Coaching.Call 972 380 0200 for a free initial consultation.
B. Speaking at Sales Meetings to Improve Sales Performance
Present Sales Performance improvement programs at sales meetings and conferences
RECOMMENDED IF:
- Your salespeople lose proposals based on price.
- You have underperforming salespeople.
- Your salespeople have too many deals that they say are closing and they don’t close.
Programs for Your Sales Success
Visit Best@Selling to see upcoming programs.
Consultative Selling: Asking the Strategic Questions that Sell: Did a customer tell you he needs to think about your sales proposal? Your questioning strategy is flawed. You will learn to ask the questions that sell for you and not hear “I’ll think about it” any more. This webinar is key to your sales call success.
Sell More Now Programs: Selling Strategies to Sell More Now!Your successful selling is more than talking and listening. It’s developing the strategy to get in front of the right customers the easiest and most effective ways. This thoughtful, strategic approach to your selling will shorten your sales cycle and increase the profitability of your business. You will learn to develop your successful selling strategies in this one-hour (approximate) program.
You will learn to make strategic decisions that help your customers make a buying decision and see you as the preferred supplier. Your strategy work continues as you demonstrate why they should continue to buy from you. This program will guide you to formulate your sales strategies so you get in front of the right customers, help them make buying decisions faster, and create long-term business relationships.
You will learn:
1. How to get customers to quickly understand that you are the preferred supplier.
2. How to identify the customers you can best serve.
3. How to get customers to come to you.
4. How to avoid wasting time on the wrong prospects.
5. How to be perceived as an expert so customers quickly trust you.
Sell More Now with Mentoray Marketplace
You Can Still Learn!
Did you miss the webinars to help you sell more. View them now!
| On-Line Webinar: Would Have Liked to Know That!: A Salesman’s Guide To Sales Success If you’re new to sales or thinking about a career in sales, you will want to avoid the setbacks and obstacles that might be part of your career. Selling is a fulfilling yet challenging job. You can learn to maintain the selling attitude you need to thrive. You will learn to focus on the skill that’s most important to sales success (and it’s probably not the one you think.) You will identify the strategies to implement that will lead to your sales success. |
On-Line Webinar: Secrets of Persuasion to Sell More Now
Sales professionals who use persuasion and influence get better results in business. This seminar will teach you to identify the behavioral clues you need to effectively
persuade others. You will learn what the clues mean and how to use them with customers to shorten your sales cycle. You will increase your sales when you have the tools to persuade.
Do you need to increase your sales? Why not consider sales coaching? Are you looking for proven strategies to sell more?
Contact Maura@Bestatselling.com or 972 380 0200. Free 15 minute consultation to determine if this program is for you.
“You have also taught me a great questioning strategy for every account. I can now get past price and get deeper into a business than before. This has not only given me more confidence when I walk into a prospect, but it has shortened my sales cycle. This has been my biggest goal throughout our working together.”
Jordan Dale
Account Manager
Western Marketing, Inc
“Maura has proivided the expertise to retool our entire sales process. She has single handedly created the sales side of the cutting edge technological sales tools we are implementing at this moment. She has been invaluable.”
Charles Read
President
Custom Payroll Associates Inc.
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See you there!
You can read my monthly selling column Ask The Sales Pro for SOLD magazine where I answer readers selling questions. You can subscribe to the magazine and read my answers to solve their selling challenges. You can also ask questions! Get answers to your tough selling challenges.
| Monday Morning Sales Tips: Do you need ideas for sales meeting? Are you looking for weekly motivation to sell more? Real-World Selling: A book with selling skills and strategies that work in the real world of sales. Secrets of Persuasion: Audio CD for the clues to use to speed-read people and close more business. |
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