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Introduction: Men and women providing various professional services sense when they’re in a performance rut. Where it feels as though the days all bleed into a single repetition of the same run-of-the-mill cloud of experiences: a workplace rendition of déjà vu gone live the moment they step through the door. Makes it exasperating at times, just to stay focused.
A huge mistake many salespeople make (I’ve caught myself doing this many times), is attempting to persuade our prospect to buy what “we” like without considering what “they” like.
Have you ever done that? After all, because ‘I’ think this style looks best, obviously the prospect must, too.” Or, “‘I’ like this financial growth plan better than any of the others.” Maybe even, “Take a look at this widget; it’s got 107 ways that you can blah blah blah, blah blah blah. Isn’t it magnificent!?”
I think everybody needs to know “who is the best customer for me?” Here’s how you can generate a description of that individual.
List five of your best current customers. After you have them listed, describe as many characteristics of each one as you can. How do they do business; how do they think; where did they go to school; what information sources do they turn to; what level of financial success are they experiencing; how many different locations are they operating from?
Also note what resource they came from. Were they a referral? Did they come from a response to advertising or direct mail, or what?
At a Chamber of Commerce Business Card Exchange several years ago a well-dress woman walked up to me, business card in hand and, in perfect form held it in both hands in front of me, gesturing for me to take it.
I took the card from her and smiled. She looked up and in a polite voice, said “Thank you,” and walked away. How sad. Here was this obviously well-intentioned woman, who most likely owned an interesting business but never learned what to do at a card exchange.
Competence goes beyond having a specific expertise. It certainly means being knowledgeable and skillful in your field. But it also means possessing a problem-solving ability that goes beyond your own specialty. If you don’t know the answer, or how to fix the problem, with competence as an ability, you know how to go about getting someone who does. Competence means having a can-do attitude and following through on it.
The process of attending to established clients and winning new ones can appear to be a precarious juggling act. The juggler’s fear is that if any of those whirling balls drop, the act fails. The bad news is if the balls drop too often, the fear will probably come true. The good news is that if a ball or two occasionally drops, the act usually can be salvaged.
The successful salesperson needs to learn to balance and organize his performance so the movement continues in a positive, exciting direction. How do you, the modern super salesperson, accomplish this?
Here are twenty-two quick ideas on how to be better when selling over the phone.
1. Arrange a specific time each day to make calls. Honor that time. Keep it as an appointment with yourself.
2. Determine the number of calls you’re going to make and stick to that number.
3. Establish an objective or goal for each call before picking up the telephone.
4. Fine-tune your script or outline until it’s perfect for you.
5. Internalize the script so it sounds natural and you feel comfortable delivering it.
6. Develop a pleasing voice, which comes from a pleasing attitude.
Your self-image is the way you see yourself and think about yourself. It is often called your “inner mirror.” You look into this mirror in every situation to see how you should perform on the outside. You always behave on the outside in a manner consistent with the picture you have of yourself on the inside.
For example, if you see yourself, as calm, confident and competent in any aspect of selling, when you are engaged in that activity, you will feel calm, confident and competent. You will be positive and happy. You will perform well and get excellent results.
There are three focuses you can have on working this great business, and each one will bring you success, but only one will truly create momentum. And in this Nugget, I want to share with you the way to ignite a fire of success in your business and drive it to the heights of any success you seek!!!!
The First Focus is:
1) “RETAILERS”
This will create a steady paycheck for you, and will move a lot of product. Retailing can be a slower way to work this business, but many people are happy with an extra 1000.00 a month, and want no more.
Any change, or even an attempt to change anything you are doing, makes you uncomfortable. By attempting to change, you move out of your comfort zone. You feel increasingly uneasy. You experience stress and tension. If the change is too extreme, your physical and mental health can be affected. You will experience sleeplessness, indigestion, or fatigue. You may react with impatience, irritability or anger. You will often feel as if you are on an emotional roller-coaster.
RAISE YOUR INTERNAL STANDARDS