The First Factor of Successful Selling

The first Instant Success Factor of successful selling is BEING AVAILABLE.

It was our Monday afternoon sales meeting and one of our top salesmen commented that he had been making many sales calls by phone without reaching anyone and no one was returning the voice mail messages he had left.

He said that he was very frustrated with each call because all he heard was a voice mail on the other end. The question I asked him was: 'Are you BEING available when you are making the calls?' He considered the question and then said, 'No, I don't believe I am!'

Often, when we are not getting the results that we want, the tendency can be to look outside of ourselves. We may justify the situation by saying that 'it was a bad time of day to call'. We can console ourselves by saying the other person 'does not have the courtesy to return a call.' Or we can state a 'sales rule' that when you make calls you never get more than 30% answering.

However, if you are being radically personally responsible for your own results in life or in business, you know that looking outside of yourself will not change the circumstances.

If you notice that your customers are not returning your calls or you are not connecting with others, where to place your gaze is on yourself...and consider that perhaps you are the one that is NOT being available.

Increase Sales by Taking Advantage of Your Thoughts

During the last week, actually the last 5 days, I have been working on site in a different state. This has mandated me going to dinner at unfamiliar restaurants and not knowing anyone. Yet, I have received 4 leads and one of which wants to start some executive coaching upon my return to my office in the Chicago area.

My first opportunity happened when speaking at a local chamber event. Even though the attendance was under 20 small business owners, I had exceeded the expectations of at least one of them because he wanted to talk more with me.

The second incredible opportunity happened at a local bar and grill. My colleague and I were enjoying some adult beverages along with two delicious dinners when a gentleman sat down next to me as the bar was fairly crowded. Upon sitting down I made a comment about him actually looking old enough given that the previous individual who had occupied the seat had looked so young. This happens when you age, everyone looks way too young.

When he spoke, I noticed an English accent. Being the curious person, I asked where in England he was from. He shared his hometown and we just started talking. Within several minutes, I learned that he was the new operations manager for a large company that my colleague had been trying to meet with without much success. Further conversation revealed some internal challenges and we exchanged cards and I will follow up. Sales Coaching Tip: Most sales professionals fail to follow-up on leads.

My third opportunity to increase sales happened the next night in the same eating establishment as the food was so incredibly good and reasonably priced. I sat one bar stool away from a woman. Something came on the news and she made some remark to me and I responded. Again, we started sharing and I learned that her brother had a significant medical practice within the area and he was facing some human capital and organizational challenges. Securing a large size health care provider was one of my desired prospects.

During the next day during a training and development session (my reason for being in the area), one of the participants came up to me after the training was over and asked if she could speak with me. Over our lunches, she shared that she was looking for an executive coach. We scheduled a free strategy session to better understand each other and if I could truly help her. Sales Coaching Tip: When you are authentic, you will attract potential clients. You do not need to sell yourself or your products and services.

Who would think in a city over 1,500 miles away from where I live, not knowing anyone, that I would find 3 fairly solid leads and one individual who had expressed a bona fide need for executive coaching? Life truly is just opportunity after opportunity waiting for you to unlock them. All you must do is to have those genuine positive thoughts that are aligned to your goals, your sales skills and your sales action plan.

What I believe has created all of these opportunities are my thoughts of wanting to secure at least 5 more clients within this area during the next 3 months. Tonight I am off to meet with another colleague who had provided me with several leads of which two I have appointments before I leave town. With all of these opportunities, I cannot wait to meet with her. As my executive coach tells me: "Life is great!"

Acquiring Business With Persuasion

So, what's the deal with the power of persuasion? Is it just a good business skill or is it manipulation?

Let's talk about manipulation first. A typical sales pitch involves the motive to manipulate. It will look like a set up, and the one being set up will feel like a caged animal. The seller begins zeroing in on the potential customer's pain. It starts as an introduction and a handshake. Then you pick up an on accent as your target begins speaking, or a ring he is sporting on his right pinkie - something that moves the conversation to a more personal nature. This probing leads to what city the target is from, what he likes to do for fun, and what he wishes he had more time to do...until before you know it, the poor slob is bearing his vulnerabilities to the vulture. And then of course, the manipulator goes in for the kill.

The persuader works differently. His appearance is less slick. You feel comfortable in his presence because, even though you are caught off guard by his inherent confidence, there is something familiar about him. Where the manipulator has a desperate quality that seems to motivate him, the persuader has no hidden agenda, so he is relaxed. The persuader does not have a goal to "find your pain." Instead, a professional presentation is made based upon the persuader's ability to exude success. The persuader is always cordial and professional, and if compliments are given they are sincere. Again, no ulterior motives. The persuader's contact is drawn to him because he knows success follows the persuader. Because of this, the contact wants to give him his business without the persuader having to convince him.

Get the difference? If you have leaned toward manipulation to get the client or deal that you were after, seriously consider reevaluating your approach. To be truly powerful and successful you must always be willing to walk away - not because you are playing a game of Chicken, but because you have integrity. No job or client is worth having to trench through muddy waters.

Many successful business people have degrees in Psychology, or at least make it a point to know the field. When you understand what draws people in, and makes them act or behave in a certain way, it is much easier to get what you want from them. The art of practicing this type of persuasion is to do it in an honorable way. A finesse is required which taps into the best part of who you are.

"The most important persuasion tool you have in your entire arsenal is integrity."

Zig Ziglar quotes (American motivational Speaker and Author. )

A large portion of the population want what they can't have. Taking the example in this article about the business person who is willing to walk out the door, the potential customer will feel even more inclined to come after him. If they do succeed in retaining the persuader, and he is as good as he has demonstrated, then that customer will very likely be his for life.

Canadian Psychologists did a study in which they followed people at a race track. The study revealed that the people making bets on their horses were much more confident after they placed their bets then before. The circumstances hadn't changed, and no new information about the horses had been announced, the people involved in the study simply had taken the act of placing their bets.

The conclusions based on this study revealed that humans are inclined to take a stand once they make a decision and carry through with it. Another mitigating condition is that human beings are influenced by social and internal pressures. This condition points to people wanting to be winners, and wanting to be associated with winners.

And, it just so happens, that winners are masters at the art of persuasion. For this reason it is imperative to start each day with the winner's frame of mind. Start your days off with confidence. If you are not feeling it, fake it. Believe you are the best at what you do, and behave accordingly.

There is no substitute for being branded as an executive or as a company with class. Become an expert in your field, and treat everyone you meet with respect. Persuasion will become less something you do to another person, and more of a way of being. From there, everything will fall into place. Easier said than done, I know. But, the journey will be a whole lot more pleasant when you take the high road.

Cost V Value Arguments in Business to Business Sales

The single most common reason sales people give for losing a sale is that they were too expensive compared to the competition. Strangely this is never the reasons customers give for choosing a supplier. In survey after survey customers give as their primary reason for choosing a supplier is that the supplier met their requirements and/or showed them a return on their investment. Customers in B2B sales almost never give price as the main or even secondary factor. Even given that there will be some reticence to say they bought the lowest priced bidder (excluding the public sector), there is still a huge gulf between sales people and their customers as to why a customer didn't buy their solution which was clearly the best, most functional etc..

The reason most customers give for not buying a particular solution as against another is complex but boils down to a couple of major factors. Customers first of all can see little differentiation between competing brands and therefore choose the one they are most familiar and comfortable with, or one they trust the most. Second, if a B2B customer is to choose a particular product or service then they will choose the one that gives them the best return on investment.

For those of us involved in sales for longer than a couple of years, nothing much has changed. Companies have always bought based on criteria of familiarity, trust and payback. What is different nowadays is the formality with which this is measured by the pragmatic buyer. It would be a great service if Marketers therefore turned their attention to Return on Investment (ROI) messages in their marketing strategies.

There is no hiding place for the organisation that proposes products and services based purely on features. Firstly there are too many messages assailing companies, too many competing claims and far too many broken promises, for any customer to make decisions based on claim and counterclaim.

In the most recent example we have some experience of, a company had four bids for a software infrastructure project. The bids were, £400K, £500K, £800K and £1.3M. The company chose the £1.3M bid because the supplier was the only one who provided them with a Return on Investment argument. We could have expected the customer to choose the middle bids, especially since one of those bids was their incumbent supplier!

Marketing strategies need to be developed to take account of value, not simply cost or product features, and marketing programmes need to support this. Sales people need to be furnished with the tools to help them to put forward strong ROI arguments, otherwise suppliers will find their customers moving to the competition who do.

The message is clear and unequivocal. Business to business suppliers must focus on the value their products and services bring. Remember, customers only buy for three reasons to make money, save money or fulfil some intangible need.

One last point - for those of you who base your sales strategy on a compliance argument then beware if customers have to comply with a law or regulations, then they are likely to buy the cheapest option available look no farther than car insurance for proof. Companies who sell on the basis of compliance therefore still need to focus on value rather than price, if they are too avoid the trap of downward spiralling price negotiations.

What Are You Offering?

It's all about the offer. It doesn't matter what kind of advertising you're talking about. If you don't have a good enough offer people aren't going to care about you.

So what are you offering people?

The exact nature of the offer is likely to change quite a bit depending on what type of industry you're in, but it will always depend on the customer base. You're offer needs to be centered completely around what their needs are and what you can do to best provide for them.

The form of color printing you use will also have an impact on your advertising. Take for instance a postcard. By nature a postcard is small and has to have a very short, to the point message. You simply don't have much room to tell people more.

That means your offer is likely going to be a discount of some kind. If you're sending out postcards to generate more sale leads, tell them that they'll get a discount on the first purchase or first service they buy.

For the longer styles of color printing you'll likely go with something a little different. Take a brochure as an example. Often the thing you're offering a person with brochures is information rather than a discount on something.

A good example of this is a tax service. You can give people an offer that is two fold in order to promote your services.

Send a brochure explaining some of the more complicated tax laws to them. Taxes are something that everyone has to deal with, so you'll grab their attention by giving them some simple, easy to understand details about them.

But what this also does is gives them reason why they should use your services. By laying out what all those different tax laws are like, you're informing them while also saying this is why you need to hire an accountant, because this stuff is complicated.

The best offers are going to be the ones that work twofold by providing both you and the customers with something helpful.

Every kind of advertisement you print needs to have a worthwhile offer. And you can be creative with what that offer is. You might give away some free items or if you sell a popular kind of clothing you're offering to give them a great new style that will appeal to them.

Take the time to do the research into your customers to know what kind of offer will resonate the most with them. You need to know plenty about your customers before you'll be able to give them anything they'll need.

If your offer is good enough, people won't be able to help but give you some business. You just need to be sure that the situation is a win for everyone involved.

Kaye Z. Marks is an avid writer and follower of developments in color printing industry and how these improvements can benefit small to medium-scale business.

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5 Essential Ingredients That Make Straight Commission Compensation Appealing

In a recent piece I outlined 5 tip-offs that reveal when straight commission jobs are rip-offs, or at least "opportunities" you should decline.

But that article left me feeling I created a vacuum. I didn't disclose the five ingredients we should look for, so here they are:

(1) There needs to be a SUBSTANTIAL payoff for success. You're taking on a lot of risk, and of course the primary one is that you'll invest your time, talent, effort, and ego in an utter loser and emerge with zilch. There is a simple balancing formula that investors use for evaluating an opportunity: Does the reward substantially outweigh the risk? If not, then pass.

(2) The ultimate compensation must be greater than that being offered for a safe, no-risk sales job. Imagine at Company A they're offering a commission-only job that has the potential of yielding $100,000 per year. At Company B, they'll stake you to a guarantee, to a draw or a salary of $100,000. It's a no brainer; you'd have to go with B. The realistic earning potential of A has to add up to, minimally, 150% to 200% of what is being tendered by B.

(3) Management at the commission-only outfit has to be seasoned and trustworthy. Have they met a payroll, before, or are they in a seat-of-the-pants, gee-golly-gosh start-up mode with no financing? Are you working with a Fortune 1000 company, which is image conscious and aspires to earn a berth on one of those "Best Places to Work" lists, or is it a firm run by a lone wolf or by a partnership that couldn't care if it is sued right and left for unpaid wages and for stiffing vendors? The burden of proof is on novices to demonstrate that they are NOT flakes.

(4) There needs to be a short sales cycle, preferably measured in days or a few weeks. If you're self-financing, which is what a straight-commission arrangement requires, you need to see cash flow and fast. You can't go out on a limb and invest months in the hope that you'll make your first sale.

(5) Ideally, others are on board, making a steady, big income doing exactly what you're going to do. I spoke to the head of a company who asserted that he had a USC college student selling deal after deal, making about $4,000 a week. Why did this sales master leave? Where is he now? What were his methods? This sounds a lot like that big fish tale about "the one that got away."

Keep these five criteria in mind as you screen sales jobs or any pay-for-performance situation.

Commission-only deals can be lucrative, but you need to turn the tables and to qualify those that are offering them. You should hitch your wagon to them only if they can pass a stringent test.

Dr. Gary S. Goodman is a portfolio careerist: An attorney, real estate broker, college professor, best-selling author, TV commentator, professional speaker, and management consultant. He can be reached at: gary@customersatisfaction.com and his profile can be read at: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/0/a91/833

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7 Essentials For MASSIVE Success!

Mind: We all know that we produce great results when our thinking is in the right place. It isn't hard to see when things are "headed" south. Flip-it-up and keep your head in the game!

Action: Some people like to "think on things." Mull it over before getting started. It's the top-producers that get moving quickly. Champions master the art of thinking while in motion. Sure... some mistakes will happen in the beginning, but in time, it becomes an inevitable force of forward progress!

Strategy: When our mind is in the right place, and we are moving ahead with positive forward action, we quickly begin to understand what works and what doesn't. Combine the things that work with the right resources and build a plan to keep everyone on track.

Season: Develop a belief that you are always "in season." While others base their success on the time of year, you come up with reasons why you can be successful year round. Use your strategic plan to stay ahead, and find yourself at the top month after month... year over year. Remember, your future success depends on what you are doing right now!

Intentional: Everything you do is for a purpose. As you think through your daily activities, your sales process, your follow-up strategies, recognize reasons for why you do it "that way." You will create principles for success that will shape your behaviors and decisions for life.

Vigorous: So much of our success comes from an ability to remain strong through adversity. Ironically, it is also important to remain strong through our victories. In other words, don't lose focus just because you are winning. Impose your will and achieve your goals.

Endurance: True greatness is the ability to succeed over a long period of time. Durability comes with the strength to overcome pain and fatigue. When other people think that your success is temporary... Show them that your MASSIVE success is permanent!

How do you create MASSIVE success?

Doyle Slayton, Executive Director & Sales Strategist at http://www.SalesBlogcast.com

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