The best advice ever that I still use everyday
Never give up. Always leave a reason to call back. People need to hear something seven times to retain it. Be all you can be. The best is yet to come. Never give up. Always see the world through rose colored glasses. Always give the other person the benefit of the doubt. Take time to smell the roses. Remember your manners.
Roll all those statements into one and you’ve got a Super Star Sales Pro. You’ve got a person who believes in themselves, believes in their product and services. Believes that the world is generally a great place. Believes in tomorrow. Remembers yesterday and always has a dream. And someone who always has a more seasoned professional guiding them. At ever twist and turn, they’ve got a safety net. Someone they can turn to.
I’ve always had the dream. The vision of what I want my world to be. Very early in my sales career, a sales manager told me to always leave a reason to call back. That way, you won’t be wasting your time or your Customers time. Important in todays fast paced, always connected world. We’re all swamped with too many things to do, too many calls to return. Too many quotes to submit. Too many emails to read and respond to… Too much of everything in your day. You know the drill. Quite likely, if you’re making your quota, you’re living this way. If you’re not making your quota, you’re living this way just trying to make your quota. If you’re like most of us, you want to go home at the end of the day, kick the cat, punch a wall, unwind a bit and then just plain brag about the accomplishments of the day! Somehow, everything that was unbearable at the moment becomes a sales success in the comfort of your own home.
I’ve always managed, in every step of career, to have a mentor by my side. To have a trusted advisor who could help me learn my craft. ALWAYS have a mentor. You’ll need that trusted resource at some point in your life. Quite likely, at least once a day. We all need someone to share our sales joys and sorrows with. The highs don’t get much higher than the exhilarating feeling of a closed deal. The lows don’t get much lower either. Our chosen profession can make us inhuman sometimes. Always have a mentor. I say it again because I believe so strongly in it. Sure, when you get home at the end of the day, you have the safety of your family and your loved ones. You can truly be “you” within the safety of your own home. But, for most sales professionals, the 12 – 18 hours a day that you spent in your sales world that mentor can keep you even paced, can teach you something new, can listen to your latest ideas and can always point you in the right direction. Always have a mentor. And always aspire to be one.
Practice doesn’t make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect- just doing something to do it doesn’t make you better but focusing your efforts to a state of constant improvement. Walk out of each sales call and honestly ask your self what I could have done better, maybe you did every thing well or maybe you blew a section either way there is always room for improvement. To improve you have to make that a priority, commit to where you want to be and put the work in with purpose and direction.
I gave you something better than a yes. I gave you a No. One of the inspirations for this book said that to me, he was right I tried to close and close and close but he just wouldn’t buy. The reality is not every one will no matter how hard you work.
This is not about being dishonest or slight of hand but is the fact that if you stumble pause, gather your thoughts and pick back up, the silence to you will seem like forever but the few seconds of silence will go un noticed. In English we only use audible sound 37% of the time in our speech patterns mean there are a lot of natural pauses and silence in our communication. Use it to your advantage for emphasis or to regroup.
What you’re doing today will effect how successful you are six months from now- the boss isn’t looking and you can play nine right. Before you do that did you really accomplish everything you needed to or could in the course of the business day. If you didn’t it will catch up with you. The customer you didn’t follow up with today might be placing the largest order in the last decade with your competition. You can fool a lot of people with the amount of effort you re putting in but don’t fool yourself.
No Matter who you are watching you can learn how to do something better from what they are doing. Observe all the sales professionals around you. Take the good things from each of them and roll them into your personal style.
Question the Question- Are you asking the right things? Look at what you need to learn before each customer interaction and build out the questions that will engage the customer in dialog but also give you insight into the business. Have a plan. Each and every time. Have a sales plan and you’ll achieve your goal. Or at least advance the opportunity to reach your goal by a little bit.
If your friends jumped off the Brooklyn bridge would you- My mother would be so proud to see this one. I did after all learn this one from her. So lets take it out of child hood and apply it to our profession. If all the sales team is leaving at 3:00 and going to the bar should you? If everyone else is putting in the bear minimum of appoints or calls…Should you? Sales is full of temptations so you job is to manage them to reach your goals.
