The most valuable resource we have is time and sales people more than anyone know how challenging it can be to cram everything that needs to be done into their available time. According to Stephen Covey, author of ‘First Things First’ we should focus on our high priority tasks, those that provide the biggest levers towards achieving our goals. That is why being clear on what you want to accomplish in every facet of your life, will determine the importance and therefore the priority of everything you need to do.

Essentially, we spend our time on tasks that are categorised into one of four areas:

1. Urgent and Important – these activities will include crises, pressing problems, deadline-driven projects, meetings and preparation for all of these things. Whilst we do have to spend time on these tasks, it is vital to appreciate that many of them become urgent because of a lack of planning.

2. Important and Non-Urgent – these activities include preparation, prevention measures, planning, relationship building and creating. In fact, all these types of tasks can be summarised as activities that are directly linked to the accomplishment of our long-range goals.

3. Urgent and Not Important – these activities will include interruptions, some phone calls, some emails and reports and those types of tasks that we may enjoy doing – popular activities. The term ‘urgent’ can create the perception that these types of tasks are important.

4. Non-Urgent and Not Important – these activities will include trivia, some phone calls, junk mail, time wasters, watching mindless television shows and anything that we do to escape doing those tasks that we need to do. If we are battered by spending too much time on urgent activities, we may seek solace through doing these types of activities. We can summarise these tasks as those that waste our time.

When working on urgent tasks, two things are likely to occur. Firstly, the feelings of urgency creates an adrenalin rush that can fill us with a sense of excitement.

Once the urgency has been withdrawn from our situation, we can feel down and depressed. This develops into an addiction to urgency – we crave the highs and do whatever we can to avoid the lows. Secondly, urgent tasks can create a ‘choking effect’ when we feel so overwhelmed that it impairs our ability to think clearly. Neither reactions are helpful if we want to remain in a peak state over a long period.

Many people who experience ‘burn-out’ have spent too much of their time working on urgent things, this creates an imbalance and they simply become exhausted. They simply cannot see ‘the wood from the trees’ and negative thoughts begin to dominate the positive ones. Many sales people become stuck at a certain level of success because they have allowed themselves to become buried under countless details, demands and activities that drain their energy.

When people have more balance and more free time to devote to important tasks they are rejuvenated and better equipped to increase their productivity. This is why spending a larger proportion of our time on activities that are important yet not necessarily urgent gives us a greater sense of control over our lives.

Planning your time accordingly will save you time and ensure that you remain focussed on those tasks and activities that take you closer to your goals. Also by scheduling your tasks, you are more likely to complete them.

I think you might also enjoy: “How To Gain A Thirteenth Month Every Year”

The dichotomy facing sales leaders is how they reconcile the fact that most corporations today provide less upfront training for their sales staff than in years past, yet attach increasing importance to staff development?

This should not come as a surprise, because current stock market thinking provides a powerful disincentive for firms to invest in their people on an ongoing basis. An organisation’s investment in their human capital, in the form of training and other forms of education, is not separable from general expenditure. It therefore appears as a cost on the corporate balance sheet.

Tough Choices:

Unfortunately, as a consequence, sales leaders have concluded that their only realistic option is to cut back on training and instead look to recruit sales professionals who, in theory anyway, already possess the necessary skills needed to do the job.

They then send them out to win business armed with what they know.

However, most of those same sales leaders are discovering just how difficult it is to find skilled salespeople, who have all of the essential skills and personal traits. And anyway it is not possible to equate experience or seniority with success.

In skills development, there are many similarities to sport; does an athletic champion stop training as soon as they win their first medal? In music, does a concert pianist stop rehearsing as soon as they have given their first recital? In art, does the artist stop improving after they have enjoyed the first exhibition of their work? The answer in all cases is obvious and we should apply the same common sense principals to the ongoing development of our sales teams.

The reality is that selling in today’s climate is both an art and a science. Selling is a profession that demands a far wider range of skills than ever before, skills that require continual fine-tuning and constant practice.

In Summary – Ongoing Reinforcement and Development Is Essential:

The operative word here is “ongoing.” Even if salespeople have undergone progressive sales training, there’s no guarantee that they will be successful.

It is common knowledge that skills grow rusty over time and salespeople are prone to pick-up bad habits along the way or to simply skip steps and take shortcuts that can lead to long-term trouble.

Perhaps even more important these days, is the fact that markets, competition, technologies, and customer preferences are all in a constant and accelerating state of change. This fact requires that sales people are able and willing to rethink their sales strategy and approach frequently and receive a regular top-up of skills and motivational coaching.

Today’s News: What Motivates a Salesperson? The Results Are In  from Donal Daly of TAS Group – no surprises here!

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, England, 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: Absolutely delighted to tell you that Kelley Robertson was March’s winner over at Top 10 Sales Articles, and we have posted another superb selection for April – HERE

The JF Guest Author Spot

Colleen Francis

Sales people who are struggling with the economy now or those who just have a poor start at the beginning of a year, often find themselves struggling for the rest of the year to catch up. The good news is, whatever you’re experiencing, we’ve all been there at least once. The bad news is, most of us don’t know exactly how to snap out of a slump, and start making sales.

First – don’t panic! If you’re in panic mode, you can’t be creative, and creativity is exactly what you need right now. Besides, just as dogs can smell fear in humans, prospects can smell desperation in sales people. If you panic, your prospects will sense that you’re desperate, and they’ll avoid you like last night’s leftover Tuna Surprise. Just take a deep breath, stay calm and focus on what needs to be done.

Next, don’t get down on yourself. Think about a time in your past when you were in a similar situation, and how you were able to climb out if it. Focus on that positive experience, instead of focusing on the negative. Put your energy towards what you can change, rather than towards what you can’t. For example, you can’t change the global economic situation, you can change the way you sell through it!

Third, don’t get angry. Anger will be misinterpreted by your clients, peers and managers as being emotional or out of control. When you’re in a slump more than at any other time, you need to be totally in control, and assure others around you that you know exactly what to do. Whenever you find yourself becoming angry, try to be as honest as possible, and focus on solutions and options – not on laying blame.

Last but most definitely not least, don’t quit! The worst thing you can do during a slump is to stop trying. The Chicago White Sox were on the verge of a 90-year slump before winning the World Series in 2005. Yet during that entire period, their team motto stayed the same: “Win, or die trying.” Guess it paid off for them in the end.

Remember: there could be an almost unlimited number of reasons why you’re in a slump. It could be the economy, for example. But even in a poor economy, there are top performing sales people, and those who just scrape by. Admitting that your success is up to you is the first step in getting out of a slump, and getting your career back on track.

To help you snap out of a slump and get your year back on track, try some of the following tips, adapted from the strategies of the Top 10%:

1. Reconnect to your plan.
Review your goals and either recommit to the action plan you set for yourself at the beginning of the year – or create a new one! One client of mine recalculates his plan after every month he doesn’t hit his quota, to ensure his quota for the next month includes both what he was supposed to do PLUS whatever he missed last month. This helps him redefine his actions and gain clarity on exactly how many calls he needs to make, meetings he needs to secure and business he needs to close to get back on track. If you had a really bad month, you could perhaps work your underage into the next 2-3 months to make it more attainable.

2. Work smarter and harder.
Think of 10 things you could do this week to work more effectively. Then commit to working just a little bit harder until you’re out of this bad spell. So you have to be out of “balance” for a short time. Would you rather that you’re out of balance, or your checkbook? The choice is yours.

3. Get a coach.
Have someone you respect listen to your phone calls, watch you at networking events and evaluate your presentations. This could be a manager, a colleague, a friend or a hired gun. Whoever you choose, ask them to be honest with you, and when they are, do something with the advice they give you.

4. Coach yourself.
Video or audio tape your presentations and calls, and be honest with yourself. Would you buy from you?

5. Change your presentation.
Maybe it’s time to turn your presentation style upside down, or inside out. What you’re doing now obviously isn’t working, so if you want a different result, you have to do something different. Try starting with the end, or in the middle. And while we’re talking about change, everyone should read the cover story of the June 2005 issue of Fast Company magazine: “Change or die.” It’s an excellent article on why change is so hard – yet so necessary.

6. Stay away from life suckers.
You know who they are. The one who lies in wait at the water cooler, just so they can whine, moan and complain to whatever poor, parched soul happens to wander by. The one lurking in the lunchroom way past 1pm to tell you about how nothing is ever right, and they’re always getting the short end of the stick.

When you’ve slept only 4 hours, they were up all night. If you have a stomachache, they’ve got near-fatal food poisoning. When you have a headache, you better believe they’ve got a migraine. Life suckers can’t help you; they have problems of their own.

7. Get to work earlier.
Yes, I know, you’re already screaming at me: “Colleen, I need balance!” Not while you’re in a slump, you don’t. Right now, you’re behind, and you need to do something about it. Only the mediocre use balance as their battle cry during a slump. So suck it up for this short period, and save the balance until you’re back on top.

8. Change your mood.
Listen to your favorite song, comedian or motivational speaker in the car on your way to your next sales meeting. This will help put you into an excellent, upbeat mood when you start your presentation, which will cause you to shine – and your prospect to take a shine to you.

9. Change your environment.
This could be as simple as de-cluttering your office. It’s impossible to feel fresh and excited about what you do if you can’t see your desk. A chaotic work environment will make you depressed to be there, and if you’re depressed to be at work, you won’t snap out of your slump.

Changing your environment could also mean – gasp, yes, it’s true! – taking the day off from selling! If you need motivation, go sit in a coffee shop or someplace with a nice view and read books and articles on positive attitude and self-development. If you need to be re-created, take a hike (literally), and then come back to the office re-energized and ready to take on the world.

Personally, I find that getting away for around 4 days (say, Thursday-Sunday, as I’m doing as I write this to you right now) can dramatically help me to create, re-organize and re-energize. It’s also one of the best ways I know of to avoid another slump in the future.

10. Follow a leader.
Trail the best sales person you know on their calls for a day. See what they’re doing differently than you, and how you can incorporate those ideas in your business. Note that this doesn’t have to be someone from the office. You can learn a lot from watching sales people in other industries, too.

11. Take your boss to work.
Take your boss with you on calls for a week. This will force you to be more prepared and on your best behavior. You’ll also probably receive more feedback than you probably want. Instead of rejecting this feedback, use it to be better.

12. Prove that money can buy a little happiness.
Buy something you can’t afford. This is radical, I know, and not many of you will like this idea or think it’s responsible of me to suggest it. But it works better for me than any other “counter slump maneuver” I know of, so I felt it wouldn’t be right not to at least share the possibility with you.

Of course, I don’t mean racking up all your credit cards to the limit buying gold toilets, and then spending the next twenty years paying them off at 21% interest. What I mean – and what I personally do – is book a first-class trip for 6 months from now. Then, I have to make more sales to earn the money to go. Or book a training class 9 months from now, and again you’ll be motivated to sell more in order to pay for it. I don’t know about you, but for me, the “coming into work early” and all the other hard tasks on this list get a whole lot easier to embrace when I know that I have a trip to Hawaii coming up in a few months, which I really don’t want to cancel.

Having a slump is not the end of the world, so long as it’s short, temporary and you know what to do about it.

Know what motivates you. Be disciplined – it’s the one thing that separates the best from the mediocre – and stay focused on those activities that you know will pull you out of the slump. And remember to keep it all in perspective.

You are responsible for your slump, and only you can change it. But you can change it, and once you accept the fact that you can reverse your fortune, you’ll already be on the road to recovery.

Believe in yourself. I know you can do it.
Colleen Francis, Top Sales Expert, is Founder and President of Engage Selling Solutions (www.EngageSelling.com). Armed with skills developed from years of experience, Colleen helps clients realize immediate results, achieve lasting success and permanently raise their bottom line.
 
Start improving your results today with Colleen’s online newsletter Engaging Ideas and her FREE 10 day intensive sales eCourse: www.EngageNewsletter.com

As I have said on numerous occasions, now more than ever, sales training, which appears on the balance sheet as a cost, with no tangible return on investment, is going to be under even more rigorous scrutiny by investors. So they will be very interested in this …..

Research by the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) has shown that organizations that are able to offer their salespeople opportunities for ongoing development are ten times more likely to create more peak-performing salespeople than those that don’t.

Data has been collected on more than 2500 firms in sixty three countries, of all sizes and industries. Training investment is measured in dollars per-capita.

ASTD’s results show there is a significant correlation between spend on training per-capita and total shareholder return one year later. Profitability does not show immediately because of a lag effect in the stock market, but it shows a year later because of the hidden nature of investments in staff.

The following findings by ASTD compare the relationship between training investment and total stockholder return (TSR) in the subsequent year:

• Firms in the top quartile, with respect to training investments, have higher median TSRs in the subsequent year than firms in the other three training quartiles. Further, the third quartile is higher than the second and the second is higher than the first (the quartile with the lowest training investment).

• Organizations in the top half for training expenditure in one year have a mean TSR in the following year of 36.9%, while organizations in the bottom half have a mean TSR of only 19.8%.

• Firms that spend more than average on training have TSRs that are 86% higher than firms that spend less than average and 45% higher than market average.

• The model estimates that each dollar invested in training leads to a $33.57 benefit to the firm.

Therefore, Sales Directors need to allow sufficient time to enable their investment in training and development to “pay off”.

Introducing ongoing reinforcement programs will help accelerate the benefits gained from the training and development investment.

Today’s News: Today is in fact a very historic one for CRM vendor SalesNexus, as they launch their own sales community complete with a Sales Institute.

It is the culmination of weeks of work, involving collaboration between Craig Klein’s team and my own, and we are very excited to be part of this ground-breaking initiative. I have to keep it under wraps until 12 noon Eastern today, but I will let you listen to a recording of the presentation next week.

“In a sales world mainly populated by very average salesmen and women, it  is necessary – indeed essential – to stand out and to be outstanding”

The right to do business has to be earned and never assumed.

Rather than doggedly asking for business, the very best salespeople work to keep the relationship moving toward a sale. They realize the need to identify how to turn their company’s products into real solutions, which must meet specific needs.

Unfortunately, our surveys confirm that the average salesperson drags the customer over old ground as much as 52 percent of the time. They are unable to provide continuous stimulation and never know when to treat an existing customer like a new one.

Conversely, exceptional salespeople make such “return” calls only 10 percent of the time. Above all, earning the right to proceed requires gaining the customer’s trust, and top salespeople work diligently to establish a climate in which the customer is willing to share information and feels comfortable doing so. The key here is integrity.

Part of the Process

Customers are persuaded when they are part of the process and not part of the audience.

Sales success today demands a radical shift from the “peddler” mentality of merely demonstrating products and expanding on their features. It requires treating the customer as a participant. More often than not, a flashy sales presentation alone alienates rather than persuades.

The best salespeople regard the sales call as a two-way conversation – not a one-sided pitch. They have developed active listening skills. Average salespeople score fairly well in their ability to provide customers with facts and figures, but top performers dramatically outscore the rest when it comes to gathering information.

In addition, how a salesperson collects information still distinguishes exceptional achievers from the rest of the pack. Top performers ask better questions and, as a result, gain much better information. Essentially, they aim to engage customers in the buying process with questions that require thoughtful answers and stimulate curiosity. These questions reveal the customer’s underlying needs.

A Fresh Approach to Selling

Many organizations have developed without objective analysis of their purpose and structure. The buying power in many industries is no longer evenly distributed — in a large number of markets, a few big firms control the majority of purchases.

The development of new marketing techniques has meant that some tasks traditionally performed by the sales team can be more effectively handled by other methods. The prime objective of all sales staff is to gain business.

From an organizational point of view, however, how they all achieve their goals must be defined in order to identify what kind and the quality of skills that are required.

Today’s News: Like you, I expect, I am inundated with weekly/monthly newsletters, but a very few, I always make time to read, and one of those is Joanne Black’s “Back in the Black” - I think you’ll enjoy it too.

If you are a regular visitor here, you will know that I am a fervent believer in networking, and if you are not, then you should be – but where to begin?

There is ultimately no better way to start networking than to try it for real.

The easiest way to do this to commence with the clients you already have, rather than to find new ones.

One highly beneficial task you can undertake at the outset is to map or chart your contacts. This mapping can be done in a number of ways.

Network Mapping Methods:
• Write a manual list of who you know and what they do
• Build an electronic database of contacts
• Keep a journal or diary of who you meet, where and when
• Draw (and keep updating) a contacts map

Mapping Your Network
Whilst you may eventually choose to adopt two, three, or all of these methods, in the early stages it is the last of these options that is often the most helpful and potentially revealing.

A network map is simply drawn (using squares or circles). You start by putting your name in the centre of the page in a circle and commence drawing connecting lines to people you know, before drawing connecting lines from these people to others that they know.

Mapping Conventions
This is very basic map demonstrates how a visual and dynamic chart can be created, which can help both to record quite complex data (and how it is related) and reveal possible avenues that were not obvious before.

One convention is recording four pieces of information for every contact in your network (apart from their name). These are their location, where or how you met, and any other useful information that you think is relevant. Whilst this may seem a bit strange and unnecessary for close family and friends, it is remarkable how useful this will be as you build your network over time.

Finally, don’t forget, these charts can be used three-dimensionally. When one side or part of it gets too big, transfer a major hub name to the centre of another chart and start to use all the new space you now have for extra contacts.

Today’s News: It’s Bill Sayer’s week!! Fellow Top Sales Expert Sayers is everywhere … As an example.

This week Salesopedia profiles one of the world’s foremost experts in sales and sales leadership, Bill Sayers. Bill speaks, coaches, leads education sessions and provides management consulting services to a variety of companies from start-ups to large organizations. His passion for sales inspires sales teams to achieve more.
 
Meet him on video right here!

My personal view is that too often, we make assumptions that our prospects or customers will automatically be as excited as we are about our solutions.

The reality is that they won’t be, so start from a point of  understanding that they do not know what they don’t know. It is our duty to educate them.

When customers perceive the value of a proposition outweighs the risks, then generally speaking they will go ahead and make the purchase – if they trust you – notice the absence of the word “like” 

Customers will often pay more for added value, which is usually related to one of the “Three Rs”: Reputation/Reliability/Relationship.

Good sales people are able to paint a graphic picture of what is at stake, quantify the value, and help the prospect understand how it will make them feel. 

It’s important to really believe in the value of what you are offering, so that you are better equipped to convince your prospects. If you don’t really believe, then my advice is to find another company to work for, because if you are unsure about the value your product or service can provide, you will project this unconsciously onto your prospects.

Conversely if you are completely convinced that your product or service offers superb value for money then your entire communication, from your voice tone, your eye contact and your gestures will convey ‘VALUE’.

Present your price using the lowest possible denominator:

Break down the price into small chunks, such as cost per use or per week.
“And you can enjoy all those benefits for just $200 a week.”

The smaller the number the more attractive it will be to the prospect. And it helps put a manageable context around the prospect’s possible outlay.

If you are producing a quotation for a product or service that has multiple elements, itemise the cost for each element. This helps to build the value because prospects can see at-a-glance all the elements involved and the individual prices for each element will be lower than the total sum.

Offer the correct solution:

If you have correctly identified the prospects requirements and proposed aligned solutions then the chances are, you won’t be suggesting a ‘Rolls Royce’ version when the customer requires a ‘Mini’.

It’s much more effective to give the prospect something they have asked for and makes it easier for them to compare prices. Once the prospect is satisfied that your prices are pretty much the same, you have created a stronger platform to ‘up-sell’ from.

Focus on the difference:

Focus on the difference between what they say they are willing to pay, and what you are asking for. This reduces the amount in their mind and is another opportunity to highlight the additional benefits they will gain.

For example, “You’ll get all these extra benefits for just (difference in price) a week more than you’re paying at the moment.”

Reduce the price only by changing the proposition:

If you need to lower the price, then change the deal. This can help you to maintain your credibility and justifies the reason for you lowering your price. If you simply comply with their request to match a competitor’s price, you imply that you were asking too much in the first instance. Take out aspects of your proposition to bring the cost within their budget.

Compare initial price with long-term value:

Ultimately, the price of something is what the customer invests now. The cost is what they end up paying in the longer term. A product/service that requires a higher initial investment may be more cost-effective and provide long-term better value for money.

For example, imagine two brands of dishwashing liquid. Brand A costs more to buy initially than Brand B, yet because Brand A is more concentrated, (feature) it washes twice as many plates as Brand B (benefit). So, overall Brand A is actually much better value in the longer term. In fact, if you calculate the investment per ‘plate’ then you have reduced the price to the lowest common denominator.

The core message here is, are you making it easy for your customers to buy from you? Can they see the value? Can they trust you?

Today’s News:

Here’s an opportunity to listen in on a very good live Top Sales Experts Masterclass ……

How the C Level Makes or Breaks Sales Performance
Wednesday March 24th 2010 1:00 PM EDT

“Sales performance is at its lowest for years. We believe it is too easy just to blame the state of the  economy for this disturbing situation.

We will discuss why C-Level executives and sales managers  should not be excluded when looking for the root causes of the performance gap. In consequence  we will  propose  a  top down approach, focusing on executives and sales managers, how to get better sales performance even with tight budgets, for performance improvement initiatives.

Every C-Level executive involved in sales or not, should attend and verify you are not the cause of performance short falls.”

Please accept this free place, with my compliments, and register HERE

Selling is not something a salesperson does to a prospect. Selling is something you do with the prospect in a process of discovery and interaction – human relations at work.

The “Egocentric Predicament”

The greatest barrier to success in this process is the “egocentric predicament.” This consists of being overly and unnecessarily concerned with the self. Our ability to be perceptive and concerned about others is inversely proportionate to our self-concern.

When the self gets unnecessarily in the way, the fruitful cycle of good human relations stops producing.

The key to understanding and accepting others is to first understand and accept oneself – starting with the realization that, rather than striving for an unattainable “I should be” image, we should settle for our real self as “I am” – accepting shortcomings along with strengths.

I Am vs. I Should Be

The following points provide a practical answer to the “I am” versus “I should be” conflict:

• Recognize it — and recognize that its source is rooted in the views of others.

• Either (a) accept your “I am” image or (b) decide on attainable, constructive steps to achieve “I should be” in the future.

• Our behavior is a reflection of our attitudes, and our attitudes grow out of our values. Each is an integral part of the other. Do your life values make it easy for you to put the other person’s interests first?

• Sincerity is a much-used word in relation to selling. Integrity is a kindred word. Integrity implies a consistent kind of honesty: acting outwardly the way you truly feel inwardly. That’s why sound values are so important to your success with others.

Remember: “People buy our product not so much because they understand the product . . . but because they feel that we understand them.”

There are many effective ways of doing this: The best way to create this kind of buying climate is to “transmit on their frequency.” This opens their mind to you and makes them willing – and eager – to listen.

A sincere, specific compliment on a point of real meaning to them gets the other person talking about things of interest to them. It opens doors.

“Before I sell my prospect what my prospect buys, I must first see my prospect as they see themselves.”

A Magical Word:

Empathy is the magical word in human-to-human interaction. It means feeling as the other person feels, not just with them. It means putting yourself in their shoes and shaping your attitudes accordingly.

Beyond getting the order, the plus factor in selling is to make people look good in their own eyes and in the eyes of others. Rather than sell to them, we help them buy.

We do this best by building their self-image. This helps them grow. And as we help others grow, we grow. To do this, we must be open and honest – this is the essence of good human relations.

These concepts are applicable to every facet of our lives, and in selling, they pave the way to the truest and most fruitful success.

Today’s News:

You can catch my latest podcast over at AllBusiness here

You can even leave me a question, if you’d like to!

The JF Guest Author Spot

Jill Konrath

Call me a prude if you will, but I’ve had it with sellers who are totally clueless that they’re going too far, too fast in their initial meeting with me. The worst thing is, they have no idea how their actions are perceived.

Could you possibly be guilty of this promiscuous behavior? If so, do you have any idea what it’s doing to your reputation?

The Fantasy

Let’s say I’m your ideal prospect. You call me up, catch me on the phone, deliver a message that piques my curiosity and I agree to meet.

Sounds like the perfect scenario, right? If you’re like most sellers, you’re probably pretty excited about our upcoming meeting. After all, I’m one hot prospect who’s interested in what you’ve got.

So what happens when we finally get together? Initially you focus on building a relationship with me. You thank me for agreeing to meet. We chitchat for a few minutes about little things. Then you ask me about my company to get me talking about business.

After you’ve warmed me up, it’s time to get serious. Since I agreed to meet, clearly I want to learn about your company and offering, so an overview comes next. You want to make sure I understand all the salient details about your organization, its history and more.

Then it’s time for a few questions. Perhaps you start by assessing if I’m a qualified buyer with money in my budget. Or, you might focus on my very specific needs so you can determine the appropriate solution.

Following that, you present information on the products or services you think I’d be most interested in. When I start asking questions, you get more excited. We’re connecting, bonding, getting closer to consummating the business relationship.

The Reality

But the truth is, you are dead wrong! You’ve totally misjudged my interest level and thus, lost the opportunity to do business with me.

Why? You don’t understand how I (your prospect) think. You assumed that my interest meant one thing, when it fact it signifies something entirely different.

In SNAP Selling (coming in May), I’ve structured the whole book around the three primary decisions your prospects make:

•    First Decision: Allow Access
When you approach a prospect with an enticing message, they’ll agree to meet-perhaps by phone, web conference or in person. They’re willing to invest a small bit of time with you. You’ve moved them from being oblivious about your existence to curious.

•    Second Decision: Initiate Change
In the second decision, your prospect evaluates if it’s worth it to change from the status quo. They’d prefer not to because it takes a lot of extra time and effort. But, if they can see that all the hassle and pain leads to a better outcome, they’ll do it.

•    Third Decision: Select Resources
Once your prospect decides that change is worthwhile, then they want to learn about your product or service. Understanding your differentiators becomes important to them. Even the risk of doing business with you is considered. At the end of this decision, they pick the option they determine is best for them.

Understanding the difference between these three decisions is imperative to your sales success. At each stage of the process, your sales behaviors must change if you want to keep advancing your relationship. Failure to get it right means you get dumped.

So Here’s the Deal

Over 90% of the people you meet with are in the Second Decision phase. They’re trying to determine if they want to change.

But there you are, trying to seduce them with all the cool things about your product, service or solution. That’s Third Decision behavior. It’s way too much information about your offering much too quickly. And, it’s coming at a time when the focus should be on helping your prospect assess the ROI for moving off the status quo

When you prematurely elaborate, you set up a lose/lose situation. Prospects don’t want to have anything more to do with you, even if you could have made a difference to their business. From their perspective, you’re only concern is making a quick sale. While that wasn’t your intent, that is how you’re perceived.

Anytime you meet with new prospects, first find out if they’ve already decided to change. If not, don’t talk for more than a few minutes about your offering or company.

Instead say, “While many of our customers have realized significant value from changing, what we really need to do is determine if it makes sense for you.” Then, be prepared to ask questions that lead to that outcome.

Don’t sabotage your chances of sales success by trying to move too quickly. Slow down. Way down. Ensure your prospect has made the Second Decision, before you jump into Third Decision behaviors – or suffer the consequences. You can’t rush a relationship!

SNAP Selling: Speed Up Sales and Win More Business with Today’s Frazzled Customer

“I feel like a proud, but still pregnant mama announcing the upcoming birth of my newest child. While I’m still in my final trimester, it’s only two months till my official due date. FYI, SNAP Selling is now available for pre-order at Amazon:” http://bit.ly/btRr8T“

Jill Konrath, a leading-edge sales strategist and business advisor, is a popular speaker at national sales meetings and association events. She helps sellers crack into corporate accounts, speed up their sales cycle and achieve their revenue growth goals.

She’s the author of the instant sales classic, Selling to Big Companies, which has been an Amazon Top 25 sales book since it was released.

As a thought leader in the selling and marketing arena, Jill also publishes a popular newsletter and hosts a widely read blog. She’s written hundreds of articles on sales strategy, appeared as a guest expert for numerous podcasts & conducted webinars attended by sellers around the world.