As far back as I can remember, I have enjoyed solving problems and that has certainly been of great assistance during my sales career.

You see, creativity is problem solving. That’s the essence of successful selling.

The foremost function of the mind is problem solving; we solve problems with our imagination and imagination is a function of our creative ability. A creative salesperson is a problem-solver.

The basics of the selling process:
• Determine desire
• Present the product to satisfy desire
• Help the prospect find the right reasons for a favourable decision

Selling is nothing more than an exercise in problem solving. By constantly keeping your imagination and creativity at work, you will develop the best attitude for problem solving. You will build an unending source of ideas. You will become an idea producer and this will be your source of “value add” that will differentiate you from your competitor.

Differentiate Between Activity and Accomplishment

Activity relates to being busy but accomplishment equates to getting meaningful things done. It takes energy to fail. The successful salesperson channels their energy into creative, productive channels leading to pre-defined goals.

Accomplishment is measured by the amount of creativity involved.

And Finally: Value Added Asks:

“What service or benefit can I add to what I give my customer, other than my product?”

Not just service in the sense of speedy delivery, prompt follow-up and personal attention, which are normal adjuncts of any real sale…but a real plus idea, something extra of value to him beyond the immediate transaction…that goes beyond the nine dots of your job…

Value add, through idea giving, is the ingredient that earns you the right to ask for the order, and to expect it!

Today’s News: Over at AllBusiness, you can catch my latest “Ask The Expert” podcast “How To Choose A Sales Training Company” here – if you wish

So, we have reached the end of Q1, and no doubt you are reviewing your sales results, and looking forward to an even more successful Q2. But how many of you will also be reviewing your personal goals - the ones you set at the beginning of the year? You didn’t set any? Well it is never too late.

Success should be something you don’t just ‘Kinda Sorta’ want to achieve but something you must achieve.

Generally top achievers expect to be successful and as a consequence they usually are. They are driven by a ‘have to’ attitude not a ‘want to’ attitude.

If you have no concrete goals and you have been succeeding in spite of yourself, just think how much more success you could enjoy if you set your sights on a definite path and had a specific time-frame in which you expect to reach your destination.

Setting Goals Keeps You Focussed:

What you should know is that goals give you three distinct advantages, which help you succeed:

• Goals keep you on track.
• Goals let you know when and what to celebrate.
• Goals give you a focussed plan to work with.

If nothing else, goals let others know what they have to aim for to keep up with your standards.

Effective Goal Setting:

Take the time to think about what would make you happy, contented and satisfied and about what would motivate you to become a Top 5% Player.

It’s important to remember that goals are maps; they will guide you towards your success – the more detailed your goal setting the easier it will be for you to reach your destination.

When you are in the first stage of goal setting you also need to remember two important factors – i.e.

• The goal must be better than your best yet – but it must be achievable.
• Goals should be based on productivity not production.

Keeping these two rules of goal setting firmly in your mind will help you to form and stay committed to what is really important to you.

You may also enjoy my summary of Covey’s superb best selling book “The Seven Habits Of Highly Successful People,” here

Are you a great goal setter? Leave me a comment and share your success.

Today’s News: Last week, I was inundated with “Hey, Jonathan, what do you think of OglivyOne’s announcement that they are launching a contest to find the world’s greatest salesperson?” messages. Well, at first I thought it was an April Fool’s joke – then I decided it was a publicity stunt. Now I am not sure, and it seems that neither are an awful lot of other people – but it is causing a big stir, which will of course play straight into their hands.

I am recording my thoughts on this later today for AllBusiness, for my “Ask The Expert” slot, and I will give you the link as soon as it airs.

In the meantime, you can read what my colleague, Dave Brock has to say – plus all the comments here

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.

I also firmly believe that online sales team development is the way forward – harnessing the power of the internet. This why we have partnered with SalesNexus, a leading CRM house ….

The SalesNexus Sales Institute offers maximum convenience, and maximum return on investment: No expensive hotel charges; no travelling; minimum time away from the frontline – just ninety minutes every week; no information overload – too many ideas crammed into a two day program; ample opportunity for revision.

You can see what we have created HERE

Today’s News: We are taking a well earned Easter break, and we’ll be back next Tuesday – have a great w/e!