10 Things that Separate Sales Pros from Sales Joes

Written by Jarek Mlodzinski, The Sales Journey
[Contributing Author]

Practice, Competition, Skills, Execution, Goals, Results, Wins and Losses are among the  many terms used to describe success in sports and in business.  Pro athletes continue to improve and hone their skills to keep their job.

Amateurs who play recrationally in softball or golf leagues show up once a week and just play.  Besides the occasional practice or 15 minutes at driving range they show up with very little preparation.

Do you treat your career like a Pro or an Amateur?  Here are my Top 10 Differences that separate the Pros from the Joes in sales…

1.  Daily Planning. The Pro plans for each day the night before and has a clear goal for each meeting and appointment.  The calendar includes time for unforeseen items and travel.  The Amateur shows up in the morning without a solid plan allowing others to dictate what will happen.

2.  Practice and Skill Development. The Pro spends time daily practicing and honing skills.  She solicits feedback from managers and colleagues.  The Amateur “wings it” and relies on specialists to bail them out.

3.  Planning for the Appointment. Prior to an appointment, the Professional researches the customer thoroughly. He prepares a list of questions with a specific agenda and goal for the call.  The Amateur shows up and “goes with the flow” hoping for a good outcome.  She knows little if anything about the account or contact.

4.  Follow up. The Pro recaps each meeting and sends a written follow-up with key takeaways and actions.  He returns calls and deals with upset customers promptly.  Amateurs do not see value in follow-up and usually procrastinate hoping someone else solves the problem.

5.  Knowledge – A Pro is a student of the game.  He learns about products and solutions. He studies his industry and learns something new every day.  He puts knowledge to use by taking action and applying what he’s learned.  The Amateur prefers watching SportsCenter and dreaming about being a superstar rather than putting in the required time to build his knowledge base.

6.  Attitude.  The Professional expects to win every time.  She realizes that preparation, training and work ethic produce positive results.  She sees every obstacle as an opportunity. The Amateur gets distracted and plays the victim and the blame game.

7.  Competition .  A Pro makes time to study, interview customers, and gain insight on competitor strengths, weaknesses, and threats. He knows the sales people he’s up against and the products they promote.  The Amateur knows little about his own company let alone the competition.  He relies on discounting to win deals.

8.  Gratitude.  Professionals realize there are many who help them succeed.  They thank the administration staff, service technicians, and customers daily. The Amateur sells month-to-month and has no time to appreciate others.

9.  Giving Back.  A Pro gets involved in the community, sharing insight, knowledge, and experience with the less fortunate.  Through charitable organizations she gives back to the community that brings her business.  The Amateur sees community involvement as a waste of time.

10.  Work Ethic.  The Pro shows up early and leaves late.   She does not waste time on idle chatter at the water cooler.  She stays committed to the daily plan and limits interruptions.  In the evening, she chooses books over television.  The Amateur spends hours on meaningless tasks while watching the clock.  TV sitcoms and reruns consume their evening hours.

That’s my 10… What other ideas can you add that separate Sales Pros from Sales Joes?

The Flip Side of Selling

Written by Hal Alpiar
[Contributing Author]

“Nope, it ain’t all ’bout

how charmin’ y’all are!”

You smile great! You shake hands great! You dress great! You groom great! You talk great! You listen great! You’re responsible, reliable, responsive and there’s nobody wouldn’t jump to buy what you have to sell. You are irresistible!

But that — the selling part of selling — only gets you halfway there.

You’ve still got to measure up on all the other fronts to be the consummate professional. HOW you back up your selling skills is as important as your selling skills!

Paperwork, Computer work, Filing, Updates, Expense Reports, Record-Keeping, Processing Purchase Orders, Establishing and Maintaining Budgets, Setting and Pursuing Goals, Customer Service, Customer Relationship Management, Managing Customer Complaints, and 49 gazillion other tasks…

You need discipline, persistence, organization skills, prioritizing skills, decision-making skills, time management skills, stress management skills, and — let’s see, what else?

Got a headache just thinking about all this? Are these the “not so fun” parts of your job?

Well, here’s the good news: If this stuff isn’t fun, you can make it fun! Turn your sales chores into games. Reward yourself every time you complete a task that’s not a pleasant fit with your personality. Stop hating technical and clerical and detail paper and computer tasks, and start thinking of them as building blocks to help you get that house or boat or car or vacation you want, or that career path you’ve paved!

Do this every day for three weeks, and you will see an improvement in what you do (so will others!):

• Make a dated list every day for the next day before you leave your desk or car, or horse.
• Chunk it up into small manageable pieces. 3 minutes max (beyond 3 minutes, it’s not important!).
• When 3 minutes are up, number tasks with priority 1 or 2 or 3, and asterisk those that are hot.
• The next day as you complete each #1 chunk, cross it out with a highlighter so you can later see what you’ve done. Save the daily lists; they will surprise you after 3 weeks when you review them to see where you’ve been. Many keep this going for years. Some have actually used the saved pages to save their jobs and even earn promotions and pay/commission raises (FYI, List items that you number as 2 and 3 will rise to the surface on every next day’s list!)
• As interruptions occur, add them to the list and cross them out as they’re done

Easy to say? Yup! It’s also easy to DO when you make the decision that it’s easy to do. All behavior is a choice. You can choose for these parts of your job to be a pain in the butt or you can choose (just as easily) to have them be steps that lead you to the mountaintop.

How quickly can you choose to get the non-selling parts of your job done? How accurate can you choose to be? How thorough can you choose to follow-through with each choice you make? When you make the conscious choice to see your job as a combination of using your sparkling personality and knowledge and experience and charm and one-on-one and group sales skills as Part A, and all the necessary support work as Part B, you will get yourself to Part C (“Cash”) a whole lot quicker and more securely than competitors who gloss over their record-keeping.

How much can you streamline what you do without creating administrative havoc? How can you do a better job of time management to help ensure that the administrative parts of your job get done without interfering with your personal selling time or your personal family time? When was the last time you stepped back from what you’re doing and assessed your attitude about it? When did you last change your attitude about what you’re doing? When was the last big sales surge you experienced? Notice any connections?

YouTube Turns Five!

Has Social Media Changed Our Definition of Friendship?

How To Build Instant Rapport With Your Prospect

Written by Silvia Quintanilla, CEO, Industry Gems
[Contributing Author]

Human behavior is a fascinating thing. What makes one sales interaction so successful, and the next one a big disappointment?

Much of it has to do with rapport.  The question then becomes, how do you build rapport with a prospect right from the get-go?  Remember…

People like to do business with people who are like them.

We’ve heard this before, but this principal became deeply ingrained when I attended a two-day training seminar by Dr. Donald Moine, a veteran Sales Psychologist.  He teaches techniques for building trust and rapport.

I’ll start by sharing one of his lessons at the most basic level… How do you shake someone’s hand?

If the statement is true, and people really buy from those who are like them, then you should shake the other person’s hand the same way they are shaking yours – when you reach out, immediately make adjustments to use the same grip and the same style.

Let’s take this to the next level.  Say you’re speaking to a new prospect over the phone. Listen closely to the way they speak.  Here’s a quick list of the most common things you’ll hear…

• Relaxed and informal speech
• Formal and very businesslike
• Fast paced or slow paced
• Soft speaker or loud speaker

Learn to adapt the way you speak just enough to match your prospect’s style of speaking.

Why is this important?  If you naturally speak loud and fast, and your prospect speaks low and slow, there will be an obvious disconnect in your conversation.  On the other hand, when you match their speaking style, it creates common ground, and builds rapport!  On a subconscious level, your prospect will like you and trust you.

It took me a while to remember to do this in my own conversations, but with practice, it now comes naturally.  It has helped me elevate my sales interactions to a whole new level!

What about you… What techniques are you using to build rapport with your prospects?

Follow Your Heart and Nothing Else

Take Buyer Objections to the EDGE!

Written by Tibor Shanto, Renbor Sales Solutions
[Contributing Author]

Sales people often see objections as red flags, and they just can’t help but react.  There are entire programs on dealing with objections, handling objections, deflecting objections, embracing objections, the list goes on…

Most of these programs attempt to help sales people “deal” with objections by teaching them what to say, what to do, or how to avoid them.  I recommend a different approach… Take objections to the EDGE!

Engage – Discovery – Gain – Execute

Engage – All of us hear predictable and recurring objections like, “We’re all set,” “Not interested,” “No time,” and others.  These objections are not a direct response to your message, they are mostly triggered by the fact that you are interrupting the buyer.

Discovery – During the Discovery stage, the buyer gets more involved, takes interest, asks questions, and opens up to the possibilities.  At times, some of their questions might might sound “objectionable.”

Gain – Objections at the Gain stage are much more important.  Now you are getting closer to completing the sale!  Avoid fighting common objections with common responses that fail to address the real issue.  Rather than getting defensive and putting things at risk, use the objection to your advantage.

Execute – When a buyer reviews the specs and asks for clarification, they are not objecting but confirming.  Don’t get defensive, deal with the facts, and steer away from slick responses.  Ask questions, isolate the issue, and focus on understanding exactly what the buyer is asking.  Chances are you dealt with it back in the Discovery stage, and just need to review the facts again.

Let’s take a look at a common scenario…

The Price Objection – Relax.  Deal with it, not against it.  When the customer says, “It’s too high,” you don’t need to defend.  Following the comment, give it a minute to sink in.  Use the silence to your advantage.  Then very considerately say, “really, may I ask how you determined that?”

The answer will give you an opportunity to put things into perspective.  Relate back to the buyer’s specific needs, re-establish value, and help the buyer get back on track.  Have the buyer acknowledge the issue has been dealt with, and then move on.

This approach is not easy.  It requires patience and focus to build credibility and trust.  Stick with it and you will win more deals!

How to Make Requests that Get Buy-In

Written by Steve Martile, Life Coach, Blogging for Coaches
[Contributing Author]

Requests are more of an art than a science.  It’s one of the most important skills to selling  – to be able to ask for something and get buy-in from someone else.

The Biggest Mistake

I’ve screwed up quite a bit over the years – so I’m good at asking and NOT getting what I want.  When I worked in the corporate world, the sales people I worked with were terrible for the same reason.  They never understood that selling is never about selling – it’s about giving people what they want.

And when these sales people tried selling to me (the same way I was trying to sell), I wouldn’t bother to buy anything.  Why?  Because their body posture, facial positions, tone of voice, and their entire demeanor was saying, “I dont’ care about anything else.  I’m here to get the sale.”  They made their agenda more important than my agenda.

So, if you’re a small business owner and you’re struggling to get new sales just ask yourself: What’s more important to you?  Getting the next sale or helping your clients and prospects get what they want?

The Dirty Truth

Nobody cares about you. It’s not about you.  It’s about what’s in it for the prospect.

The next time you’re asking for a sale, a date, or whatever it is – think about what it is in it for them.

The Path to Buy-In

One of the best ways to get people to buy-in to your ideas is by providing them with a benefit.  You can do that by asking yourself these questions:

• What’s in it for them?
• What will they get out of this transaction?
• How will it help them solve their problem or achieve their goals?
• What makes this offer attractive to them?
• How will this benefit my prospect?

The more often you think about what’s important to others, the easier it will be to get what you want – regardless if it’s new business, a date, or just some time to yourself to lounge on the coach.  Always ask for what you want by positioning your request as an opportunity for another.

The 1st Step to Making Your Emails Stand Out

What Wins… Talent or Experience?