The JF Guest Author Spot

 Joanne Black   

A sales call is either cold or hot. Fortunately, there is a way to make nothing but hot calls, with a fantastic rate of return. The secret is referrals.

A cold call is one that’s made to someone who doesn’t know you and is not expecting your call. Salespeople can delude themselves into thinking they are making “warm calls” when in fact they’re actually making cold calls.

Consider the following situations:
• You call someone because you got the name came from a colleague or friend. Cold!
• You call someone and then follow up with a letter. Cold!
• The person’s name came from a specific list. Still cold!

These are all cold calls — the person doesn’t know you and is not expecting your call. Even though you think you’ve been able to avoid sounding like a telemarketer, this type of call is still cold. And cold calling is a numbers game. If we make 100 calls, we’ll talk to about 20 people, schedule 10 appointments, and if we’re lucky, close one new deal. That’s a 1 percent return on our time.

Not only does cold calling have a low percentage return, those who do it and those who receive them rarely have a positive attitude about cold calls. Recent research by Huthwaite® surveyed both sellers and buyers about their attitudes on prospecting:

Sellers
• 63 % of salespeople say cold calling is what they most dislike about their jobs
• 88 % of salespeople work for companies that consider prospecting important

Buyers
• 91% of buyers never respond to an unsolicited inquiry
• 71% of buyers find cold calls annoying
• 88% of buyers will have nothing to do with cold callers
• 94% of buyers couldn’t remember a single prospector or message they had received during the last two years

Obviously cold calls aren’t working. In fact, why would you settle for the illusion of a “warm call” when you can make genuine hot calls?

A call is hot when there’s an introduction. The person knows who the caller is and is expecting the call. This is the kind of call that shortens the sales cycle, increases a salesperson’s credibility, results in qualified prospects, and means a new client more than 50 percent of the time! Why would you waste your time doing anything else?

Here’s how to get HOT calls:
1. Make a list of everyone you know — current clients, past clients, peers, neighbors, service providers, friends, past co-workers, volunteer groups, etc. You should have at least 100 names. Prioritize the list so that the people that you know the best are at the top.
2. Set a goal and decide how many people you will contact each week. Arrange in-person meetings if at all possible.
3. Tell your referral sources that you are building your business through referrals and would like their help. Describe your ideal client and ask for one or two people who meet your description.
4. When your referral source makes a suggestion, find out as much as you can about the person and his company.
5. Then ask your referral source to make the introduction. The introduction could be by phone, in person, or by e-mail.

Start thinking about how you spend your time and the type of payoff you want. Get HOT! Get that introduction!

Joanne Black is a professional sales speaker and America’s leading authority on referral selling. She is the author of No More Cold Calling™: The Breakthrough System That Will Leave Your Competition in the Dust from Warner Business Books. For more information, visit www.NoMoreColdCalling.com. Phone: 415-461-8763 joanne@nomorecoldcalling.com

Today’s News:

It’s my turn in the “hot-seat” again, and this time I am discussing negotiation tactics with Clayton Shold over at Salesopedia. During this interview I explain why not all business is good business. I also suggest a win-win negotiation strategy is always best, but a lose-lose strategy is not necessarily bad.

As you probably know, I am a huge fan of using the four social styles, or as I call them – personality types (analytical, driver, expressive and amiable) as effective ways to build rapport in negotiation sessions. My three negotiation tactics are ones you will want to put in your bag of tricks. Just click on the banner above to catch this ten minute interview and then you may wish to read “How To Negotiate With The Four Personality Types”

Finally, if you would like to obtain a FREE copy of my E-book, “Negotiating To Win” you can do so here

Tomorrow: I am discussing sales team control – to finish the week strongly!

Continuing the debate regarding sales team development, we have to be aware that there are alternatives to formalised classroom training: For example at JFC, we strongly recommend and indeed provide,formal and informal mentoring. We also coach managers to become coaches themselves. 

Mentoring:

In mentoring, salespeople choose a mentor (usually a high-performer or more experienced person within the organisation who can serve as a model and/or guide) and consult that person periodically for advice on a range of issues from strategy for handling a particular sales situation to advice on long-term career development. Since the best way to learn something well is to teach it to others, mentoring programmes offer organisations a win-win proposition: in addition to enhancing the skills and performance of the salespeople, they help mentors develop their sales skills while improving their coaching and management skills as well.

Coaching:

More and more organisations are waking up to the value of building a strong coaching culture. Analogies to athletic coaching are common but especially apt. Training alone does not guarantee that a great athlete will deliver a gold medal-winning performance. This can only come from continuous daily support and guidance from an expert coach. Equally, top sales professionals need expert coaching support from their managers to stay at the top of their game. Whether coaching is delivered face-to-face, on the telephone, or via e-mail, those organisations that have a strong coaching culture attract and retain the best salespeople.

The challenge for Sales Directors is to provide the support that sales managers – all of whom are hard-pressed for time – need in order to provide the kind of support their salespeople must have. Successful Sales Directors have found a range of supporting tools, resources and kits that save managers’ time and enhance the impact of their coaching time.

Whatever coaching framework is chosen by an organisation, it must be easy to use, flexible so that the coaching sessions are tailored to the needs of their team, participative, so that all of the salespeople are engaged and, above all, fun. The fun factor encourages salespeople to become “hooked” on their own continued development.

You may also enjoy – “Getting The Best From The Team”

Today’s News: The countdown to Sales SheBang has begun – check out the latest news here

A couple of great blog posts for you: Paul McCord reviews “The Profit Maximization Paradox” by Glen S Petersen – interesting!

And Jerry Bowles – co- CEO over at The Customer Collective, posted this

Tomorrow: My guest is best-selling author and referral selling expert Joanne Black – be sure to join me.

The JF Guest Author Spot

Lee Salz
Every sales person needs to improve their approach in tough economic conditions. A little R & R is in order and it’s no vacation!

So you read this title and you are probably thinking that I’ve lost my mind, that I’m suggesting that you relax and just let sales happen. Take the pressure off and ignore all of the sales training you have received in your career. Forget what that sales manager is telling you to do.

Not the case! If you are in the sales profession, there is no time for R & R when it means rest and relaxation.

Have you seen the news? Gas prices are skyrocketing. The stock market is in a state of flux. Foreclosures are at record levels. Flying on a plane costs about the same as a trip on the space shuttle. How can you possibly think that this is a time for taking a break?

This is the time when you need to sharpen your skills and improve your game. People are still buying, but they are more circumspect when making a decision. Thus, the game of sales is more competitive than ever before. When I say R & R, I don’t mean taking your foot off the accelerator. I mean building a reference and referral program to drive your sales.

Why group references and referrals together? In addition to having the first letter of the word in common, they share something else in common. That commonality is that the time in the process when you can ask for either a reference or referral is the same. And, there is only one time in the buying process when you can ask someone to provide you with a referral or serve as a reference. But, when is that time? One of my favorite questions to ask of sales people is when is the only appropriate time in the process to ask for those? Some say, at closing. Others say, when you implement or upon delivery. Still others say that any time is the right time to ask.

None of these are correct! The only time when you can ask someone to serve as a reference or provide you with referrals is when you have earned the right to ask them to do so. This is the absolute only time. That said, you may earn this right with a prospect without them ever buying anything from you. Maybe, you introduced them to a strategic partner that can help them in their business. Perhaps you helped them to identify areas of concern that need to be addressed in their business. In those instances, you have earned the right to ask for referrals. (There is also a unique strategy for using references which is presented in my article titled, “The Most Underutilized Strategic Advantage.”)

But, how do you ask for a referral? (This is another fun one for me.) Many years ago, I participated in a train-the-trainer program for facilitators. The biggest takeaway for me was learning how asking a question different ways yields different results. Think back to elementary school with the curmudgeon school teacher who finished the lesson, looked over the top of her glasses and asked the class, “Any questions?” How many people raised their hand? None! Why? The inference here is that no one should have any questions, thus, no one asked.

Across the hall, another teacher finishes the same lesson and asks the group, “What questions do you have?” How many people raised their hand? Three? Five? Ten? Both teachers finished the same lesson and both checked the class for understanding of the knowledge. What was different was the inference. Asking what questions do you have, infers that you should have questions. It invites a response.

So, what does this have to do with referrals? Sales people often ask for referrals by saying, “Do you know of anyone who might be interested in our services?” Rarely does that generate even a single name. The knee-jerk response is, “No, not off the top of my head, but I’ll keep it in mind.”

Try asking the question like the second teacher in the story above. “Who do you know that would be interested in our services?” The inference in this question is that they should know someone who would be interested in your services. That slight tweak in your approach will yield far more referrals than you ever have received before.

Another reason why I group references and referrals together is that I find that sales people are often not disciplined in asking for them. While some commit a faux pas and ask at the wrong time, most don’t ask at all. They are so focused on the next sale that they forget to squeeze all of the juice from the opportunity in front of them. What is the easiest sale to make? Other than a repeat sale to an existing client, there is no easier sale than one that comes through a referral with the support of a reference. It boggles the mind that sales people don’t uncover these sales nuggets.

In most selling situations, one of the biggest hurdles to overcome is trust. Think of all of the horror stories out there on selling. The list is endless. For buyers, sales has the stink of bad fish on it. The standard buyer move is to shake the sales person’s hand and then cover their back pocket where their wallet is stored.

As a sales person, when you work with a referral, you start with a high-degree of trust since this person was referred to you by someone who has had a positive experience with you. These sales come together more often and with a shorter cycle. Need a reference for this prospect, already done! Since the prospect was a referral, the “referee” can also serve as a reference.

If you are a sales manager, put a program in place to drive R&R behavior. Have weekly goals for your sales team to develop references and referrals. Monitor the progress and reward those who exhibit the behavior.

If you are a sales person, don’t wait for your sales manager to put this in place for you. Control your destiny and hold yourself accountable for developing a specified quantity of references and referrals each week. This strategy will lead you to generate exponential sales under any economic conditions.

Lee B. Salz is the CEO of Business Expert Webinars, President of Sales Dodo, and author of “Soar Despite Your Dodo Sales Manager.” Known as “The Sales Dodo,” Lee specializes in helping companies and their sales organizations adapt and thrive in the ever-changing world of business. He is an online columnist for Sales and Marketing Management Magazine and the host of the Internet radio show, “Secrets of Business Gurus.” Look for Lee’s new book in 2009 titled, “The Sales Marriage… How to Hire the Right Sales People.” He is a passionate, dynamic speaker and a business consultant. Lee can be reached via email at lsalz@salesdodo.com, or by phone at 763.416.4321.

Today’s News: This may be your last chance to subscribe over at The Customer Collective, and receive a very nice gift from Oracle – it will be worth it, just sign-up here

Ten brand new nominees have been posted on Top 10 Sales Articles and of course, last week’s very deserving winner – just click on the banner above.

Please don’t forget to visit my other blog – Sales Manager’s Mentor Blog over at Sales Gravy – this week “No One Is Perfect”

Finally a couple of interesting blog posts for you:

Tomorrow: Why just focus on skills development programs? There are at least two other more efficient ways of developing sales teams.

There has been a plethora of blog posts and articles recently, regarding sales training, so I thought I would add my “two penneth” (Quaint British expression, meaning small contribution)

In many companies, very little systematic thought is given to the design of a sales training program. Very often one of the following fallacious schools of thought is encountered.

“Salespeople Are Born Not Made”- therefore the selection process is the only step to getting the right man. Having been chosen, the new recruit is then either successful or not, without any help from the company. Research does not bear out this theory.

“Must Know The Product From The Ground Up” – all training is therefore devoted to lengthy product training, working on the shop floor, progressing paperwork, etc. Whilst product knowledge is very necessary, it is questionable whether this is the right way to learn it or whether this is sufficient on its own.

“Watch Me Son” – the new Salesperson is sent out with an old hand to watch (and thus learn) the experienced person’s techniques. Thus the new salesperson may not only pick up bad habits from the experienced person (who usually is not as trained as a trainer), but also mere observation will not teach. 

If a successful training programme is to be developed, it must be planned with careful thought given to the following questions:

• What should be taught?
• Where should it be taught?
• By whom?

And most critical -
• How?

For Example: Objectives Of A Training Program
•  Increased sales
•  Reduced individual selling costs
•  Increased individual earnings
•  Reduced personnel turnover
•  Reduced need for supervision
•  Improved employee morale
•  Better customer relationships

Therefore, the objectives have to be formulated in these terms, i.e. turning the company’s investment in personnel into an asset producing an increased return on that investment.

Conclusion:
Training, particularly sales training is a lengthy and complex process if true learning is to take place (i.e. if behaviour is to be modified) Too often, insufficient thought is given to what is to be achieved, by whom and how. The whole situation firstly needs careful analysis with regard paid to the limitations of training, as well as to its value. Then the programme can be formulated and, very important, evaluated against specific objectives. Only in this way can we be sure that the training is in fact achieving positive results.

Training is an essential part of the profession of selling, as it is in any other profession.
Finally, formal training can also have a huge influence on skills development, especially if it is implemented with two additional ingredients:

The training must be based on what the salespeople need and should be tailored to address diagnosed performance gaps. Using a diagnostic approach – a formal sales team skills audit, saves an organisation money and time because there is nothing to be gained from teaching people something that they are already doing well or, conversely, that they don’t need to do in the first place. A well-targeted programme is far more likely to engage participants’ full interest because they’ll see its immediate relevance to their daily results.

Any training programme will be more effective when the skills that participants learn are reinforced on a regular and continual basis. For maximum impact, every level of management must reinforce training. Such reinforcement can come in many forms, but the best way is for the sales manager to serve as a “model of excellence” who provides an ongoing demonstration of required skills so salespeople begin to live and breathe them.

How do the very best companies develop their sales teams? Find out here

Tomorrow: Lee Salz, best selling author, Top Sales Expert and CEO of Business Expert Webinars is my guest on The JF Guest Author Spot.

And talking of Business Expert Webinars, Top Sales Experts presenting this week include:

Persuasive Speaking
Topic: Public Speaking
7/14/08 2:30pm EASTERN TIME
Presented by Terri Dunevant

Workshop to Create a 75-Referral-Partner System for New Sales
Topic: Small Business
7/18/08 2:30pm EASTERN TIME
Presented by Lori Richardson

For full details, just click on the banner below:

Finally, a couple of interesting posts from Friday for you: Kevin Eikenberry introduces us to Don Frederiksen, who writes the superb Lead Quietly blog, and you can read Kevin’s eulogy here

And Jill Konrath is advertising her latest seminar, which is in fact today (Monday) – here

Based on my own experience, here is my list of just six – the important six:

Enthusiasm:
We will all agree that enthusiasm for what one is doing is one of the first traits. No man or woman can install much enthusiasm in anyone else for something about which they themselves are not enthusiastic. Genuine enthusiasm does not mean a glib, backslapping, plastic smile type attitude. More often, the genuine leader’s enthusiasm is likely to be of a more quiet nature – but it is there! It is shown by the manner in which they go about their work. Their manner of handling their job seems to say to everyone. “This is important! It must be done right. It must be fairly and squarely done!” And -“You Can Do It!”

Unless a person feels right down in their bones that the work they are doing is worthwhile, they can never consistently (day in and day out) act as though they do. So, if they have any feelings or doubt about the importance of their work and cannot get enthusiastic about it, the trouble is in the person himself or herself. Whether they realise it or not, those around them sense their feelings, their attitude is showing!

Courage:
Leadership takes “guts”. The true leader has the ability to “take it” when the going gets rough. Often the leader has to “take it” for the whole organisation to keep its morale high. The leader has to face up to a new problem all the time. Indeed, many successful leaders invite difficulties just for the sheer joy of coping with them. The genuine leader approaches each day with a sort of “joy of battle”.

Courage in leadership sometimes takes unexpected forms; it may mean standing up to a principle. (Has anyone ever known a real leader who was a “yes person”?) It means having the character to stand up for what you believe in without comprising or cutting corners.

It may mean taking a bold approach to a new idea – sticking your neck out in support of something, which you think is worth trying. It means loyalty to your conviction.

Self Confidence:
An important requirement for the leader of today is self confidence. However, in making decisions about people, their motivations and the way they act or react, the leader can never feel completely sure they are right. The best they can do is to make a sort of “educated guess” based on the facts they can assemble and then depend upon their past experience and knowledge to interpret them.

However, a leader can be self-confident. A great help is to know and work within their personal assets and limitations. They know what they can personally do and what they are unable to do. They are willing to listen to other opinions, assess them and be big enough to adopt the meritorious ones even if they do not square with their original thinking. They can take small reverses in stride.

A self-confident leader is never satisfied with their present accomplishments, does not spend their time in useless longing for things they cannot have. Rather, they set about realising their immediate and realistic goals.

Integrity:
A leader keeps promises. They keep their promises to their associates as meticulously as those made to their superiors. They keep promises made to themselves, which are the hardest to keep and failure in this is the easiest to rationalise. They can keep all these promises because they never commit themselves rashly; but always within the limits of reality and their present capabilities in terms of personal ability. Part of this matter of integrity is certainly, unquestioned loyalty to their organisation – to its reputation as well as their own. Also they must have loyalty to their products and to their associates and loyalty to their industry.

Loyalty to one’s associates is extremely important in any leader. They should never allow themselves or others in their group to ridicule, or down grade other leaders or people in the industry, as it is a sign of jealousy and this is one trait that cannot exist in a true leader. Part of this loyalty is a sense of stewardship – a feeling of responsibility for the welfare, progress and security of the industry as a whole, and that includes everybody who ethically runs a business, everyone in their organisation, their customers and their family.

Interest:
Even the Oxford Dictionary has difficulty in describing the meaning of the word “friendliness”. Of “friendliness” it says, “it signifies befitting or worthy of a friend”.

A leader has a genuine and sympathetic interest in and a respect for, people as individuals. A very high percentage of any leader’s day is spent working directly with individuals.

Be careful – do not go overboard. Here there could be a danger signal. Friendliness can, of course, be overdone. Although interested and sympathetic, the true leader stays firm – never getting so involved in the personal lives of people that he forgets the implications of their role as a leader. They never play favourites – and should never play one personality against another. They know where to draw the line.

Humour:
Whilst not advocating that the leader be the ‘life and soul of the party’, it is essential that they have a keen sense of humour. There will be times when an appropriate joke or light hearted remark, will do more to relax and motivate than all the arranging in the world.

These then are the six basic characteristics, which help a person to be a successful leader.

Think of others: Upon reflection, you will probably agree that your ideas are closely allied to or even a part of the six detailed here. They are not by any means a guaranteed panacea that will assure success as a leader. Though all leaders possess them to a varying degree, all of us have known people who have had them all, but were still unsuccessful as leaders.

Characteristics or traits by themselves do not make leaders, certain core skills are equally necessary.

If you wish to better understand what those “core skills” are, this article identifies them: “Management – The Key Performance Areas”

Today’s News: The more observant of you will have noticed a new promotional box in the left-hand column, advertising the Resource Area on The Jf Consultancy, which we have been upgrading recently and will continue to build. You will find a host of articles, “How to” guides, interviews and soon, a process tool chest and sales leader’s section – enjoy!

Tomorrow: It’s holiday w/e here in France and we are looking forward to Bastille Day on Monday – but I will still be here for you – wherever you are, have a great w/e and be sure to join me next week.

The JF Guest Author Spot

Steve Martinez

Most of us never want to hear that disaster is headed in our direction. When you know the possibility of a coming disaster, your priorities shift very quickly. The sales lesson I want to share is very real. My wife and I were faced with having to decide what we wanted to save and what we needed to save in our home. We live in a community near the Cleveland National Forest, in Southern California. We were fortunate that the fire never reached us even though our neighborhood was under evacuation alert. The initial evacuation warning notice put us in panic mode and we focused on all the things we wanted to save as we prepared to evacuate our home. The truth is, our home is still littered with moving boxes by the doors which contain the memories of our lives and the valuable papers needed to reconstruct our lives. Ultimately, we were fortunate and didn’t need to exercise the evacuation notice and we count our blessings. We were only subjected to the falling ash from the fire storm. God bless the firemen who battled these fires.

If disaster were to knock on your door tomorrow, can you quickly locate and find your important boxes that contain your most valuable possessions? What we learned from this experience is it can happen to any of us. You must like the Boy Scout motto – Be Prepared! We encourage you to establish a list of the most important documents you want to save. In our case, it was keeping the company documents safe and not necessarily my journals which were some of first things we secured. My wife was also careful to secure family videos and photo albums. What we needed was to have the home and business back-up files secured and ready for travel. Through this experience, we are now better prepared for disaster as long as we have enough warning.

The Emotional Side of Decisions

When I look at what we initially packed in the boxes to save, and how we determined our priorities, I realized our emotions won over reason. There is a difference between what we wanted to save and what we needed save. It is almost funny how our wants won over our needs even in a disaster situation. If you are looking for an advantage in selling, focus on turning the needs of your prospects into wants. When your customers want what you sell, they will buy.

Where to Focus Your Selling Skills

This need-versus-want challenge is similar to the old metaphor that states, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.” The advantage goes to the person who makes the horse thirsty enough to drink. In selling, we gain the advantage anytime we make our prospects thirsty enough for our services that they begin to crave the difference our services make. Our role in selling is to create the want! It helps to create a mental image of desire, before and after, in their mind.

Take the weight loss as an example. We often see a before and after picture ourselves when we start thinking about losing weight. Your prospects must be able to visualize how they will benefit from your services after they invest in you. If you are selling to someone, where should you focus your attention? The answer is easy: You focus on the “want” every time. An example most of us can relate to is when we need to lose weight, let’s say about 10 pounds. Nothing will happen until we truly want to lose those 10 pounds. Something has to motivate us. It might be a wedding, class reunion or the fact that we are the heaviest in our group of friends.

We consult with many business owners and almost all of them need our services to become more profitable and to increase sales. It is only when they crave the results we offer that they invest in our solutions.

Steve Martinez Is the author of Sales Impactivator a sales e-publication for success oriented individuals. As the President of Selling Magic, his company teaches business professionals how to automate the selling process, preventing sales people and business owners from experiencing the hard lessons in selling. Steve has consulted with businesses around the country sharing his 25 years of sales and marketing experience to eliminate sales failure. Steve uses his experience as a National Sales Manager and National Account Executive to share the real-world lessons in sales. http://www.sellingmagic.com

Today’s News:

Over at Salesopedia, Clayton is in conversation with Craig Elias, who explains what “Trigger Events” are and how they can boost your sales – just click on the image to listen in. (I had a Skype conversation with him once and I couldn’t get a word in – so best to just listen!)

Two interesting blog posts for you – Drew Stevens (what a great guy) discusses “The Problem With Sales Training” and Brian Carroll, who always has something interesting to say (at least that what he told me) tells us that “Execution is the key to go-to-market success”

Finally, if you are a regular visitor, you will know that I am involved with, and support, The Customer Collective. They in turn are supported by amongst others, Oracle, who next week are spending literally thousands of pounds sending out a thankyou bundle to all subscribers of TCC. If you would like to receive a surprise box, all you need to do is sign up here - no cost, no obligation, no inbox full of unwanted messages, but you do get the opportunity to vote on articles and make comments.

It’s the kind of “no-brainer” decision I like.

Tomorrow: “So just what are the essential leadership qualities?” – at least, my take on them, but what do I know?

The organisation with the ability to overcome the variety of mental models living in the minds of their workforce, will be the organisation that wins in the future.

Emphasis has to be placed on creating an environment in which the ‘can do – will do’ mentality thrives and becomes the norm; success and achievement are expected, and as a consequence are much more likely to happen.

It is what Earl Nightingale called ”fulfilled expectation.”

Expect Beliefs To Change:

Throughout a person’s lifetime, beliefs change continually. Beliefs that they once thought to be immutable cease to be true.

Take the example of Roger Bannister who in 1957 became the first athlete to break the four-minute barrier for running a mile.  Bannister was a 25-year-old British medical student, and his time was 3mins 59.4 seconds, achieved at the Iffley Road track in Oxford watched by just 3,000 spectators.

Prior to Bannister’s achievement, most athletes considered a sub-four-minute mile impossible. But that same year, sixteen other athletes also ran a mile in less than four minutes. Did they become superhuman overnight? Or, more simply, did their beliefs change?

Our Colleagues Can Exert Positive Pressure:

Like those milers, salespeople have their own unique sets of beliefs, some of which limit their potential in sales. For instance, during a recession, the members of a sales force may all believe that strong sales are impossible. But if just one person increases their sales, what seemed an inevitable fact will suddenly appear more like a thin excuse for poor performance.

We Must Challenge Negative Beliefs:

Sales Captains who challenge negative beliefs with good questions can help create shifts in mindset. Take a look at these examples of negative beliefs and examples of questions that challenge them.

Statement:
“Our solutions are too expensive.”
Response:
“Compared with whom?”
“Compared to what?”
“How do you know?”

Statement:
“I’m hopeless at cold calling”
Response:
“According to whom?”
“What prevents you from being good at cold calling?”
“What would happen if you were good?”

Statement:
“My sales target is too high this month, I’ll never achieve it”
Response:
“What do you need to do so that you can?”

While challenging questions may not instantly create a belief change, over time, they can enable salespeople to shift their perceptions of their beliefs, recognising that there are other possibilities and options available to them.

Developing Self Worth:

Organisations that recognise the importance of helping their salespeople develop a strong sense of self worth are many times more likely to produce high performers. Self worth is vital to everyone but especially to salespeople who hear “no” more often than they hear “yes, I’ll buy”. A salesperson’s self-esteem can sometimes take a hammering, but organisations that find ways to build their salespeople’s self-esteem reap an invaluable dividend. Self–worth translates into attitude, that small thing that makes such a big difference.

In Summary – The most successful salespeople take care of their attitude and they understand that:

Great Attitude = Great Results,
Average Attitude = Average Results,
Poor Attitude = Poor Results.

The second commonality with successful salespeople is that they expect to be successful and they want it badly enough that they bring about its happening i.e. fulfilled expectation.

This article also deals with motivation in the work place: “Understanding Motivation – The Fundamentals”

Today’s News:

My good friend Kevin Eikenberry is running his annual Best Leadership Blog contest – I was actually runner-up last year, when I was blogging for b5 on Leadership Turn, much to my amazement :-) – All the nominees are very good this year, and were selected by a “Blue Ribbon Panel” (which I was honored to be a member of)) I do urge you to take a look and cast your vote – just click on the banner above.

You will also find a great post from Kevin called “Top Ten From TED” here and finally another fine piece from Charles Green – “Why People Don’t Trust Trust” here

Tomorrow: I welcome back fellow Top Sales Expert and good friend, Steve Martinez, who shares the horror of being put on evacuation notice, because his home is about to burn down - he describes superbly the whole experience and the lessons that he learned.

The JF Guest Author Spot

Mike Brooks

I don’t have to tell you that times are hard for companies these days.
And that means hard on you, the sales rep, too.  Now when companies tell
you that they don’t have the budget; you really believe them, don’t you?

Well not the Top 20%.

Top 20% producers are still making 80% of the sales because they know how
to adapt in a changing market like the one we’re in today.  They also know
that companies are still buying their products and services, and what they
are doing is adjusting how they sell so they can be more efficient with
their time and energy.  And one of their top priories these days is
improving their phone skills.

Whether you only prospect and set appointments by phone, or if your entire
sales cycle is conducted by phone, learning to use the phone more
effectively is going to be crucial to your success in today’s economic
environment.

Here are 5 Secrets of Top 20% producers and 5 critical phone skills you
need to master today:

Secret #1:  Use the phone to disqualify prospects rather than qualify
them.  With gas prices around $5 a gallon, the last thing you want to do
is set a bunch of unqualified or so/so appointments and then spend your
time, energy, and gas running around accomplishing nothing.

So do what the Top 20% do: when they get an answer that gives them that
feeling in their gut (what I call a Red Flag), stop and qualify it!  Ask
the tough questions.  For example, if your prospect says you can drop
something off if you wish, ask:

“I’d be happy to.  And let me ask you, after you see the information, when
are you planning to make a decision on it?”

Or,

“I’d be happy to.  What do you need to see in it to move forward and put
my company to work for you?”

Don’t be afraid to throw away the non-buyers!  Remember: Leads never get
better!

Secret #2:  Be prepared with solid scripts to handle the common brush offs
you get – especially the, “We don’t have the budget now.” When you get
this, you should reply with:

“I completely understand.  Like most companies, I know you don’t have
extra money to throw around these days.  But I also know that you still
need to advertise your business and drive customers in the door.
________, let me ask you – if I could show you how advertising just $1,000
with us this month could bring you back $2,000 or more in business, isn’t
that something you should know more about?”

(Adapt this script to fit your product or service)

Secret #3:  When closing, learn how to cut through smokescreen objections
and find out what is really holding your prospect back – and whether they
are ever going to be a deal or not!

To do this, start questioning and isolating objections rather than
answering them.  If your prospect says: “The price is too high,” say:

“I can understand that.  Let me ask you – if the price were right where
you wanted to spend, is this something you would go ahead and order from
me today?”

Any answer other than yes means that this is just a smokescreen and
answering it will get you nowhere.

To read Secrets #4 and #5, go here:

If you found this article helpful, then you will love Mike’s new book:

“The REAL Secrets of the Top 20% – How To Double Your Income Selling Over
the Phone.”  You can read about this by clicking here or simply click on the book below:

Mike Brooks, Mr. Inside Sales, offers FREE Closing Scripts, and a FREE
audio program designed to help you double your income selling over the
phone. He works with business owners and inside sales reps nationwide
teaching them the skills, strategies and techniques of top 20%
performance. If you want to Close Business like a Top Closer, then learn
how at: Mr Inside Sales.com

Today’s News: Another busy week for Top Sales Experts over at Business Expert Webinars

How to Double Your Business in 90 Days
Topic: Sales
7/8/08 11:30am EASTERN TIME
Presented by Cheryl Clausen

Get Inside Your Prospect’s Head
Topic: Sales
7/9/08 11:30am EASTERN TIME
Presented by Craig James

Cold Calling Success
Topic: Sales – Telesales
7/9/08 4:00pm EASTERN TIME
Presented by Mike Brooks

To view full details, simply click on the banner below.

Drew Stevens posted an interesting piece last week “Finding New Business In Obvious Places” – I think you will enjoy it.

I think you will also appreciate this from Keith Rosen -”Cold Calling Academy: #1 Shift from Gatekeeper to Concierge” 

Tomorrow: “Attitude, That Small Thing That Makes Such A Big Difference”

In response to a question I received in my mailbox this weekend, I identified that in my view, there are five main drivers for improvement in organisations:

In no particular order
• Strategy
• Lean operations
• Balanced culture
• Customer responsiveness
• Leadership

Strategy sets direction and gives focus to improvement. It must however be deployed throughout the organisation to be effective.

Processes need to be mapped and analysed in a methodical way; projects must be managed; problem symptoms traced to root causes; data must be collected before decisions are taken; trends in customer preferences detached and fed back; improvement activity of any kind reported on and coordinated; improvement action measured. Just about everything should be done to a discipline.

A balanced culture means effective, creative management of people. Customers are served by people; processes are managed by people. Only people can deliver quality improvement. For them to work well they must be empowered, given direction, measured, reviewed and success recognised.

Customer responsiveness keeps the organisation focused on customer needs, reactions and changing requirements.

Finally, leadership ensures that everyone is enthused and supported to work on the strategy, improve processes, serve customers and become active team players.

You may also enjoy “Is Your Organisation Committed To Success?”

Today’s News:

Over at Top 10 Sales Articles, we have just announced the Top Sales Article for June – no, I am not going spoil it for you, please check it out here

I am making a concerted effort to read more blogs, particularly those written by fellow Top Sales Experts and I promise to share with you any posts that I think you will enjoy. Dave Brock recounted an interesting experience on his blog last week – “What Did You Sell That For”  and Dave Stein had something to say about “Competing On Price”

 Tomorrow: My guest is “Mr Inside Sales” – Mike Brooks, who has a brand new book coming out shortly.

It’s Friday and I always like to post about something a little light-hearted, however there is also a serious edge to today’s topic.

Of the four business meetings I have held so far this week; only in one case was the other person able to produce an up to date and informative business card, despite the fact that they were all very senior executives.

As I have said on numerous occasions, a common (and often overlooked) image feature for every would-be business professional, is the business or calling card (the summary information about yourself you choose to give to others).

Although there are no hard facts on the subject, it is estimated that 90% of people do not have a calling card at all. In fact the estimated breakdown looks as follows:

Of the 10% that do have a calling card:
* 25% have an informative card
* 35% have cards showing only name, address, and phone number
* 40% have cards with out-of-date or incorrect information

This means that only 2.5% of people have a card that is up to date, accurate and gives a reasonably full picture of who they are and what they do.

Always Carry Your Calling Card
Having no calling cards (or one that is inaccurate or short on detail) is a major inhibitor. Even a supply of blank cards is better than none at all, as you can’t possibly expect people to remember everything that you tell them. Nor do you want to constantly write down names, phone numbers, and any other information, in long hand, every time you meet someone.

The design of your calling card can vary enormously in style and look. It should be easy to read and include a minimum of name, address, and daytime phone numbers.

However, I believe today that it is also appropriate to include fax number, e-mail address, and mobile phone numbers.

Focus On Your Skills Not Your Job
You’ll notice that a job title is deliberately not included in the list. Although in principle there is nothing wrong with including it, it is much more useful to use the space under your name to describe what you do in a precise and concise way that is meaningful to anybody that you meet. Words like designer of roads and bridges or seller of land and property are much better than engineer or sales consultant.

Don’t forget this is the information that helps others to know what skills you have or what you might offer. Hence secretary, for example, is unlikely to be useful in itself but expert in word processing and desktop publishing says a lot more.

Today’s News: It’s Independence Day over the other side of the pond of course, so lots of my friends will be flying their flags and enjoying the holiday weekend.

Over at Salesopedia, one of the latest recruits on the Top Sales Experts team, Bill Sayers is in conversation with Clayton Shold. The topic is Personal Development and it is well worth listening in to here

Tomorrow: We are gearing up for ten days of revelry, as the 2008 Armada gets under way, with potentially 10m visitors passing through – it’s only once every five years, and from my vantage point high above the City, I have a wonderful view.

As ever, wherever you are, have a great w/e and do come back next week - JF