Are you just starting out in sales? Are you having trouble meeting quota, or are you a seasoned sales veteran who's numbers aren't quite up to your expected KPI's? Then you need to look at your sales power base. Your power base is anyone and everyone you know, are related too, have worked with or for, engaged with and/or connected with on a personal level. Yes I mean your friends and family. They are not excluded. In fact, those that make up your power base are your sales turnaround whether they buy from you or refer you. This is a brilliant and rich network you likely haven't tapped. Let me rephrase that - you're terrified to approach! How dare you impose? What if they say "no"? What of you offend them? What if, what if, what if? You can play that game all day long. Here's a reality check; what if you're sales don't increase? Will you go broke and get fired? I'm fairly confident that's worse than the remote possibility that you might piss off a few acquaintances. Here's the real two-fold reality; first, tapping your power base for business or referrals will be emotionally 10x's more difficult on you emotionally then them. Second, they want you to succeed and know you have the best intentions. My advice, get out of your head and start approaching your sales power base network for business. Who knows, you might just turn your sales around and help improve a whole bunch of lives with your products or services. Now that's a winning combination for anyone.
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Isn't sales challenging enough just getting past the gatekeeper? Now you have a new gatekeeper, the obnoxiously crazy too-busy-for-you prospect. Getting in front of the too-busy prospect presents a new world of sales challenges for you, but guess what - it also impacts your prospects success in a huge way. You provide zero value and zero help until they buy from you. So how do you get in front of them? To get a meeting with them you must first understand five truths about the crazy, too-busy-for-you prospect.
If you understand these five truths you will also recognize they also give you the answers how to get in front of your crazy busy prospects. Specifically, here are five counter strategies you can use to lock down a meeting with your too-busy prospect.
Multi-platinum selling recording artist, producer and business mogul Jay-Z is regarded as an incredibly successful businessman. He doesn't view himself this way though. He said, "I'm not a businessman. I'm a business... man." Some may argue the semantics of the words, when in reality this separation and differing view is the right view. Jay-Z, you, me, we are a business. It doesn't matter if you work for someone or not. Stop kidding yourself. You are running your own business. You are the CEO of you. Do you pay bills? Yes, then you're a business. Do you give instructions and delegate? Yes, then you are a business. So what's the point. If you don't view yourself as a business and you don't run your life as a business, then you will go out of business. Whether that's getting fired, going bankrupt, losing a relationship, or raising your children inappropriately. Make no mistake, you are a business so you must start making business savvy decisions. For example, how are you marketing yourself? Forget outside sales, how are you constantly and consistently marketing yourself to your company? No offense, but unless you're #1 in your field you must keep selling yourself. Otherwise, a better marketer will take you down. How are you managing your finances? Do you have a budget? What are you doing about your health? Take care of your health today or your finances you're planning for tomorrow will not be enough. All of these types of decisions and conversations are intertwined. It's your duty and responsibility to have the discussions and planning sessions with your advisors. You do have advisors don't you? A real business is supported by advisors whether it's lawyers and accountants or a successful aunt, brother, parent or friend. Jay-Z is dead right. You are a business, and the sooner you start acting and running your life like a business the more success will come your way. I'm a business... man - Are you? It’s a paradigm shift, strategic innovation, win-win, let’s circle back, where the rubber meets the road, synergies, at the end of the day, blah, blah, blah. Cliché are everywhere, and by their very nature over-used. There’s actually a bigger problem with clichés in business though. Let me preface this problem by stating that the truth I’m about to give you is both mean and completely truthful. Those who use these types of business clichés are all talk, no action, full of crap and completely worthless to your team. In fact, they are damaging your success. Clichés are an easy way to sound like you know what you are talking about. They give the appearance of professionalism, but that’s all it really is - an appearance. The truth is, using clichés is an easy way to cover up lack of preparation, lack of understanding and lack of action. Clichés are similar to using industry jargon. They serve no purpose accept to fill in communication blanks. Using them does not make you sound intelligent. Quite the contrary. If you have people on your team using them, you must demand clarification. Ask them to explain further. If they give another set of clichés, then you know for certain they don’t know what they are talking about and certainly not taking action. You must keep drilling down until you get the specifics you’re after. When you get them, then very definitively tell them those are the specifics you expect and to drop the superfluous language. The most successful people you meet do not speak in clichés. They drill everything down to its simplest form and convey those messages. They don’t deal with ambiguities and neither should you. Raise your communication expectations. Your team will either become immediately more effective communicators and action takers, or they’ll help you weed them out. Using clichés does not make you sound competent and proactive. They make you sound unproductive, and though you are a poor communicator. Those traits serve no one. |
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April 2018
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