People make buying decisions during silence.
It's true.
Silence is one of your best friends, not something you should get paranoid or worried about. It gives impact to your words, much like the empty space around "it's true" added value and impact.
Most sales reps will never grasp this. They race through their presentations without giving the prospect a moment to speak up--as if they are afraid that objection will come at any moment, and only through a continual torrential downpour of words will they every convince the prospect to buy.
But remember... People LOVE to buy, but they HATE to be sold. The "fast talking" salesman is the epitome of selling...not giving his prospects the time, nor respect they need in order to feel like they are buying.
I had a sales presentation today that went 50% longer than usual, and I accredit all of that to the amount of long pauses I took. I would say something, pause until she acknowledged it, then move forward. I didn't move forward until I had complete feedback from my prospect. And did she buy? Yes. Why? Because I gave her time to think about what I was saying. By pausing, I showed tremendous confidence in what I said, as if daring her to object. And did she object? Absolutely! But I paused before answering, giving thought and time to my responses. But my responses were brief, and the pauses were long. At the end, she told me, "I'm going to take the leap.." and then went on to list several reasons as to why it was right for her to make a buying decision. Hint: When a prospect tells you why they should buy, SHUT UP. Don't interrupt a thing! Sit back, relax, and let them tell you all the reasons they should buy. But that's another post topic entirely, getting the prospect to list reasons why they should buy.
So today's lesson, PAUSE... Use Silence OFTEN in your presentation.
CC
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Saturday, February 14, 2009
NEVER postpone the opportunity to learn.
My associate and I had a particularly good week this week. We are already frequently #1 and #2, and always at least in the top 4 out of over 200 sales reps, but this week was one of our best ever. A struggling sales rep who has been with the company for quite some time but hasn't yet broken out of the middle of the pack--let's call him Ryan--walked over to our sales board today, and looked at how much business we were able to do this week. The amount of commissions we were going to earn this week was around 10 times what Ryan was going to receive.
"Man," Ryan started. "I gotta come pick your brains some time on how you are doing things over here."
My associate and I didn't know quite how to take it, so we just played it off in good humor. Ryan shook his head--either in discouragement, or admiration, and walked away.
I thought back to the most recent training I had given for the company. Ryan was there. He was sitting back in the back, leaning back on his chair. He hadn't brought his notebook, and seemed pre-occupied with his phone during much of the training. During the beginning of my training, I had asked what they all thought motivated the top 5 performers in the company, and he had responded with "Diapers and formula".
He got several laughs, including one from me, but he didn't take any notes. His sales haven't improved much since that training either.
My brother-in-law told me about a guy he knows that came from another company to start selling for us. I introduced myself to him when he first started, and he has since learned that I made a similar transition in the past, and yet climbed up the ladder relatively quickly. He keeps telling me that one day he wants to "do lunch", and "pick my brain". I keep waiting for that day to happen, I'd be happy to share whatever I've learned along the way, and hope that it can benefit him in some way. He continues to struggle with the transition.
It always boggles my mind, that the ones that need the training the most seem to not even know that it's there. There it is, right there in front of them, and they blow it off like it's a lecture from their parents. They say things like, "I'm going to have to pick your brain some day," instead of, "hey...you guys are having a phenomenal week over here. What can I do to perform at a higher level?" He could have learned something right there at that moment...but instead chose to tell us that "some day" he'd choose to learn from 2 of the top 5 performers in our 100 Million dollar company.
Never postpone an opportunity to learn from the best. If you are feeling down on your game, go to the guys at the top RIGHT NOW. Don't talk about "some day." Learn TODAY. And when your company holds a sales training, show up with a notebook in hand, and learn from it. Choose to learn something from the very best performers every day and every week. Learn to think like them, and you will earn like them.
CC
"Man," Ryan started. "I gotta come pick your brains some time on how you are doing things over here."
My associate and I didn't know quite how to take it, so we just played it off in good humor. Ryan shook his head--either in discouragement, or admiration, and walked away.
I thought back to the most recent training I had given for the company. Ryan was there. He was sitting back in the back, leaning back on his chair. He hadn't brought his notebook, and seemed pre-occupied with his phone during much of the training. During the beginning of my training, I had asked what they all thought motivated the top 5 performers in the company, and he had responded with "Diapers and formula".
He got several laughs, including one from me, but he didn't take any notes. His sales haven't improved much since that training either.
My brother-in-law told me about a guy he knows that came from another company to start selling for us. I introduced myself to him when he first started, and he has since learned that I made a similar transition in the past, and yet climbed up the ladder relatively quickly. He keeps telling me that one day he wants to "do lunch", and "pick my brain". I keep waiting for that day to happen, I'd be happy to share whatever I've learned along the way, and hope that it can benefit him in some way. He continues to struggle with the transition.
It always boggles my mind, that the ones that need the training the most seem to not even know that it's there. There it is, right there in front of them, and they blow it off like it's a lecture from their parents. They say things like, "I'm going to have to pick your brain some day," instead of, "hey...you guys are having a phenomenal week over here. What can I do to perform at a higher level?" He could have learned something right there at that moment...but instead chose to tell us that "some day" he'd choose to learn from 2 of the top 5 performers in our 100 Million dollar company.
Never postpone an opportunity to learn from the best. If you are feeling down on your game, go to the guys at the top RIGHT NOW. Don't talk about "some day." Learn TODAY. And when your company holds a sales training, show up with a notebook in hand, and learn from it. Choose to learn something from the very best performers every day and every week. Learn to think like them, and you will earn like them.
CC
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Motivation
I was recently asked to teach some younger sales reps on the subject of Motivation. This is perhaps one of the more valuable things that a Salesman needs to have. I've found by experience, study, and observation, that those in sales who have the psychological "edge" are the ones that are the highest paid. By psychological edge, I would include motivation, drive, confidence, etc.
Many people think that you must be born with self confidence in order to have it. But this is something that can be grown and cultivated--which perhaps should be a blog entry for another time. The same is thought of Motivation. Many mistakenly believe that you either have motivation or you don't. But this is something that can grow, the same way a muscle is grown. Through careful observation and exercise.
I set out to do my training on Motivation by interviewing the top 5 out of over 200 salespeople, along with our Sales Floor manager, who had been one of the top performing sales reps before he became manager. I asked them questions like What motivates you? How do you stay motivated? And how do you push through rough weeks when you aren't feeling very motivated?
I learned the following:
A clear picture of what they WANTED to be:
The top performers all had a very clear picture of what they WANTED to be. This was to be expected though. When we think of someone who is very motivated, we think that they are aspiring to be something great, that they are holding an image of what they want to be very clearly in their mind's eye. In fact, when I opened up my training, I asked the newer sales reps what they THOUGHT motivated the top performers and these were the first things that came up in the discussion.
A clear picture of what they did NOT want to be:
What I found quite interesting though, was that in every case, the top performers had an even clearer picture of what they did NOT want to be. In other words, they all used FEAR as a motivator, to keep them from becoming or performing like something they did not want to become. One top performer said that he knew he couldn't live with himself if one day he were passed over for a promotion because he wasn't on his "A game". Another said that he continually reminded himself of what "the alternative" was--that if he didn't work hard, if he didn't push through the difficult days, his entire lifestyle could change. Another top performer said "I hate to lose... I hate to lose...I hate to lose..." probably 8 or 9 times during our conversation. His fear or dislike of losing was so vivid, that it spurred him on during difficult weeks or days. Another top performer said he hated the idea of ever being associated with those on the bottom.
I'm not suggesting that we as salespeople focus on the things we hate--because I also believe that you become what you think about most of the time. But I did learn a very powerful lesson from studying these top performers. They use both forms of motivation, the carrot and the stick, to drive them.
Sales is very much an internal game. Use every way possible to motivate you this week. Find something you don't want to be, as well as something you want to be. Use both vivid pictures to spur you on, helping you work harder and harder.
Many people think that you must be born with self confidence in order to have it. But this is something that can be grown and cultivated--which perhaps should be a blog entry for another time. The same is thought of Motivation. Many mistakenly believe that you either have motivation or you don't. But this is something that can grow, the same way a muscle is grown. Through careful observation and exercise.
I set out to do my training on Motivation by interviewing the top 5 out of over 200 salespeople, along with our Sales Floor manager, who had been one of the top performing sales reps before he became manager. I asked them questions like What motivates you? How do you stay motivated? And how do you push through rough weeks when you aren't feeling very motivated?
I learned the following:
A clear picture of what they WANTED to be:
The top performers all had a very clear picture of what they WANTED to be. This was to be expected though. When we think of someone who is very motivated, we think that they are aspiring to be something great, that they are holding an image of what they want to be very clearly in their mind's eye. In fact, when I opened up my training, I asked the newer sales reps what they THOUGHT motivated the top performers and these were the first things that came up in the discussion.
A clear picture of what they did NOT want to be:
What I found quite interesting though, was that in every case, the top performers had an even clearer picture of what they did NOT want to be. In other words, they all used FEAR as a motivator, to keep them from becoming or performing like something they did not want to become. One top performer said that he knew he couldn't live with himself if one day he were passed over for a promotion because he wasn't on his "A game". Another said that he continually reminded himself of what "the alternative" was--that if he didn't work hard, if he didn't push through the difficult days, his entire lifestyle could change. Another top performer said "I hate to lose... I hate to lose...I hate to lose..." probably 8 or 9 times during our conversation. His fear or dislike of losing was so vivid, that it spurred him on during difficult weeks or days. Another top performer said he hated the idea of ever being associated with those on the bottom.
I'm not suggesting that we as salespeople focus on the things we hate--because I also believe that you become what you think about most of the time. But I did learn a very powerful lesson from studying these top performers. They use both forms of motivation, the carrot and the stick, to drive them.
Sales is very much an internal game. Use every way possible to motivate you this week. Find something you don't want to be, as well as something you want to be. Use both vivid pictures to spur you on, helping you work harder and harder.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Committing to Excellence This Year
New Years Resolutions are somewhat of an enigma to me. On one hand, I'm a huge fan of setting goals. I think without setting goals, I'd never have achieved the success I have in various different aspects of my life. On the other, I know that if you don't have a realistic plan for achieving them, they can get forgotten and discarded along the way. I've read plenty of self-help books that say that you greatly increase your chances for achieving goals if you write them down, even if you never look at them again--but I've also experienced plenty of years where I've written down a pretty audacious goal--then forgotten I'd ever even set it. That probably has more to do with writing something down that isn't alligned with what I was committing my efforts to. Which makes me think back onto the times I HAVE achieved success in certain areas vs. those areas in my life where I've fallen short. The one thing I've noticed is that in all of the areas I've excelled, I had made a determination that I was going to be as good as I possibly could be--whereas the times I've fallen short I just made the determination to do what I needed to do to "get by."
I was reading an article about Frank Mir, a UFC fighter who told a story about a time when one of his trainers asked him, "Do you want to be a figher? Or do you want to be a Martial Artist?" At the time, he didn't know the difference. He then learned that a Martial Artist continually improves himself. A Martial Artist realizes that he will never know all there is to know, and will continually strive to learn more from others, from his mistakes, from his failures and his successes.
The same could be said about Sales. Are you a Salesman/Sales Consultant/Employee? Or are you a Sales Professional? Or even, a Sales Artist? Are you continually learning? Or are you just plugging away, content with the "law of averages", or "it's a numbers game" philosophy?
Commit first and foremost to achieving excellence this year. Make the decision that mediocre is not enough in ANYTHING that you do. From the first opening statement with the first contact with a new prospect, all the way to closing the deal, and everything in between, make everything better. Commit this year to leaving the best voicemails, to improving your doubt resolution skills, to improving your project knowledge.
Above all, commit to being a Sales Professional--not just having a job. By adopting this as a way of life, you will have a far better year in 2009 than in 2008. Not just financially, but in job satisfaction and overall personal fulfillment.
Let's all have an amazing 2009. Happy New Year everyone!
I was reading an article about Frank Mir, a UFC fighter who told a story about a time when one of his trainers asked him, "Do you want to be a figher? Or do you want to be a Martial Artist?" At the time, he didn't know the difference. He then learned that a Martial Artist continually improves himself. A Martial Artist realizes that he will never know all there is to know, and will continually strive to learn more from others, from his mistakes, from his failures and his successes.
The same could be said about Sales. Are you a Salesman/Sales Consultant/Employee? Or are you a Sales Professional? Or even, a Sales Artist? Are you continually learning? Or are you just plugging away, content with the "law of averages", or "it's a numbers game" philosophy?
Commit first and foremost to achieving excellence this year. Make the decision that mediocre is not enough in ANYTHING that you do. From the first opening statement with the first contact with a new prospect, all the way to closing the deal, and everything in between, make everything better. Commit this year to leaving the best voicemails, to improving your doubt resolution skills, to improving your project knowledge.
Above all, commit to being a Sales Professional--not just having a job. By adopting this as a way of life, you will have a far better year in 2009 than in 2008. Not just financially, but in job satisfaction and overall personal fulfillment.
Let's all have an amazing 2009. Happy New Year everyone!
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Raising the "financial thermostat"
We all have a thermostat as far as how much money we think we deserve. In the salaried world, a guy loses his job making 50K a year, and in all likelihood he'll apply for another job making right around 50K. He usually thinks that anything making 30K is beneath him, and anything 75K is too out of his league. We see an even more obvious example in sales--especially commission only sales. I've seen people have monster sales weeks, then totally "blank" the next week, and complain about how they can't get motivated. Why not just keep working? Why not build on the momentum? It all has to do with how high their financial thermostat is set.
The human brain is very powerful. I've found that if I am making below what I truly believe I should be making, I'll have an abundance of creativity, a showering of ideas on how to get to where I need to be. I also feel this massive drive to work harder, to make more calls, and to get the deals done. This is a tremendous edge that can be harnessed and used throughout your career, and I (and others) refer to it as "raising your financial thermostat.
Basically, the idea is pretty simple: You raise the thermostat in a room, the heater kicks on and raises it up to the selected temperature. You raise it again, the heater kicks on again. Since the income ceiling in sales is quite high, it is best to continually raise your financial thermostat until you are as high as is humanly possible on your pay plan--then raise it some more.
Since this belief has to come from within, this requires some internal reprogramming. I have found that by writing daily the phrase "I earn ____ per week", and have that amount be an amount just out of reach from what I am currently achieving is the best way to override my financial thermostat and raise it to where it needs to be.
I've watched a guy on my sales floor implement this, start making great money, then stop doing this, and tank. He recently started utilizing this technique again, and as "luck" would have it, has been having back to back outstanding weeks of sales volume.
Assignment: Look at your income average whether by week or every 2 weeks. Add 25% to that amount and write the phrase, "I earn ____ per week" with the new amount. Write it or read it as often as you can. Visualize what you would do with the extra 25%--i.e., have a place for it, whether paying off debt or investing. Make a home for it as if it were already there. You'll be amazed at how quickly your real income follows what your thermostat income is.
The human brain is very powerful. I've found that if I am making below what I truly believe I should be making, I'll have an abundance of creativity, a showering of ideas on how to get to where I need to be. I also feel this massive drive to work harder, to make more calls, and to get the deals done. This is a tremendous edge that can be harnessed and used throughout your career, and I (and others) refer to it as "raising your financial thermostat.
Basically, the idea is pretty simple: You raise the thermostat in a room, the heater kicks on and raises it up to the selected temperature. You raise it again, the heater kicks on again. Since the income ceiling in sales is quite high, it is best to continually raise your financial thermostat until you are as high as is humanly possible on your pay plan--then raise it some more.
Since this belief has to come from within, this requires some internal reprogramming. I have found that by writing daily the phrase "I earn ____ per week", and have that amount be an amount just out of reach from what I am currently achieving is the best way to override my financial thermostat and raise it to where it needs to be.
I've watched a guy on my sales floor implement this, start making great money, then stop doing this, and tank. He recently started utilizing this technique again, and as "luck" would have it, has been having back to back outstanding weeks of sales volume.
Assignment: Look at your income average whether by week or every 2 weeks. Add 25% to that amount and write the phrase, "I earn ____ per week" with the new amount. Write it or read it as often as you can. Visualize what you would do with the extra 25%--i.e., have a place for it, whether paying off debt or investing. Make a home for it as if it were already there. You'll be amazed at how quickly your real income follows what your thermostat income is.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Look only to the top performers
One of my core life philosophies, is that if there are a lot of people who are successful at something, I can be too. If only one person is succeeding, he might be a freak of nature. But if a lot of people are able to do it, in fact if the top 10% of people are able to do it, then I firmly believe I can too. When I first looked into joining the very first sales floor I worked at, I looked at the sales board. I looked for the top numbers and did the math in my mind as to how much they were making. They were making more money in a week than I had made in a month!
Right after I went through training, I focused on the top performers, and what they were doing. I looked at how many calls per day they were doing, and at what times during the day. I even interviewed many of them, and asked them all kinds of questions. Things like how did they like their jobs, how did they think about their leads. I went to them for continual mentoring and training until I was a top performer too--and even continued to learn from them well after my numbers surpassed them.
I look back on that time, and I don't even remember there being any small numbers on that sales board. I'm sure there were, but I didn't notice them. The thought never entered my mind of "well, worse case scenario, I could at least do as well as THAT guy", because I'm sure "that guy" was probably not making anything. I've never seen the point of focusing on or going after the bottom performers, and you shouldn't either.
When you look at your sales boards and quarterly or 6-week averages, don't look at the bottom feeders' numbers thinking "well, at least I'm better than him." Look only at the top performers, and resolve to be a part of where they are. Make sure that every second of every day, every ounce of energy you can muster is put into being a top performer. Learn from them. Interview them. Take them to lunch. Spend time with them and their success will spread to you. When you are frustrated, discouraged, or just feel like you're in a slump--stay away from the bottom feeders. Do you honestly think they can help you?? They will only make it worse! Go to the top performers and their success and good attitude will do far more to help you.
Right after I went through training, I focused on the top performers, and what they were doing. I looked at how many calls per day they were doing, and at what times during the day. I even interviewed many of them, and asked them all kinds of questions. Things like how did they like their jobs, how did they think about their leads. I went to them for continual mentoring and training until I was a top performer too--and even continued to learn from them well after my numbers surpassed them.
I look back on that time, and I don't even remember there being any small numbers on that sales board. I'm sure there were, but I didn't notice them. The thought never entered my mind of "well, worse case scenario, I could at least do as well as THAT guy", because I'm sure "that guy" was probably not making anything. I've never seen the point of focusing on or going after the bottom performers, and you shouldn't either.
When you look at your sales boards and quarterly or 6-week averages, don't look at the bottom feeders' numbers thinking "well, at least I'm better than him." Look only at the top performers, and resolve to be a part of where they are. Make sure that every second of every day, every ounce of energy you can muster is put into being a top performer. Learn from them. Interview them. Take them to lunch. Spend time with them and their success will spread to you. When you are frustrated, discouraged, or just feel like you're in a slump--stay away from the bottom feeders. Do you honestly think they can help you?? They will only make it worse! Go to the top performers and their success and good attitude will do far more to help you.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)