Sales Systems
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***Best Practice # 22: Has a system for selling any product or service that we present.
The best salespeople are systematic in their approach to their job, while ordinary salespeople are haphazard. That's one of the reasons why they are the best. We know that sophisticated routine work is best accomplished by implementing effective systems.
***Closing the Sale – A Realistic Perspective
There is not a salesperson in existence who hasn't repeatedly heard of the need to "close the sale.” Every new sales manager must view the process of encouraging his/her sales force to "close the sale” as an initiation into the profession. If you're going to be a sales manager, you, therefore, must improve everyone's ability to "close.” Doesn't it come with the job?
***Q&A: Voicemail Call Backs
Q. We use the phone for keeping contact with many accounts. I also use it for cold calling phone prospects. Any hints on how to entice prospects to call back, since over 60 percent of calls are answered by voice mail? A. Welcome to the bane of 21st Century sales people – Voice Mail! Yes, I have a number of ideas.
***Best Practice #8: Knows how to overcome procrastination.
"Mañana.” It will wait until tomorrow. There are times when it is so tempting to tell yourself that, and to actually believe it. Clearly, sometimes it is true. However, when we continually put off for tomorrow those things that could and should be done today, we become less effective today. And while it is true that it is only one day, the truth is that we will never have that day back again.
***Question and Answer: No Response to Emails
Q. Dave, I have been a fan for a number of years, and have a number of your books. In the last couple of years, I have grown increasingly frustrated. Why won't people respond to my emails, return my voice mails, or even see me when I show up in person? Am I doing something wrong? A. You have asked a question that tens of thousands of other sales people have bouncing around in their heads every day. I hope the response which follows will be helpful.
***Best Practice # 7: Creates strategic plans for key accounts
The job of the sales person is always a bit of a balancing act. On one hand, we continually cruise our territory to see what opportunities look the most promising. We're constantly scanning the account base to identify that to which we should react. On the other hand, we also need to be proactive, determining which accounts hold the most long-term potential, and strategizing our approaches to those accounts.
***Question and Answer: No Control
Q. Help! I'm so frustrated. I just attended a "sales training” program that never addressed the real issues that I have to deal with every day. What causes me problems is not my lack of sales ability, it is my company's back orders, the lack of responsiveness and competence in my customer service people, and the mistakes in delivery by the warehouse. Those are the real issues. What can I do about those things?
*** Best Practice # 6: Plans every sales call
It continues to amaze me that so many sales people shuffle into most of their sales calls with very little, if any, prior planning. I suppose that is why this is one of the practices of the best.
***Is Integrity a Sales Strategy?
I was speaking to a group of professional sales people in Johannesburg, South Africa, on the subject of integrity in business. At dinner later in the evening, my host, who had been sitting in the audience, sheepishly shared with me that several of the people seated near her snickered at the idea. Evidently, to them, sales was just a series of transactions, and the sales person's job was to wring as much money out of each transaction as possible, under whatever means were necessary.
***Question & Answer for Sales People
Q. I have long enjoyed your articles. I am in my second year of being a full commission salesman and wanted to get your advice. When I make an onsite call or pick up the 500 pound phone and call the customer, I feel like I am begging for work… asking the headmaster for another cup of gruel. I know this isn't healthy and I genuinely believe my product is of great quality and valuable to the customer.
***Your Most Powerful Sales Tool
Did you enjoy what you had for dinner last night? You are probably wondering what that question has to do with sales. Bear with me a moment, and answer the question. Now, pause a moment, and think about what you did when you read that question. Your mind probably flashed back to yesterday evening, and you saw a picture in your mind's eye of what you had for dinner. Then you recalled your response to the dinner, and made a judgment that you did or didn't enjoy it.
***Why it is so easy to become an exceptional sales person
When I was 18 years old, I got a summer job working for a company then called Jewel Tea, whose business was selling groceries, housewares and kids clothing to housewives on a route. I was hired to work the routes for the vacationing sales people who owned the route. At age 18, I had no sales experience and little personal presence or confidence, but I consistently outsold the older, more experienced people who owned the route, and was recognized by the company as the “outstanding college student” summer employee.