Landslide Video: Respect Sales! A Day On The Links With a Prospect
Nov 12, 2009 Clients are fun. Case Studies in Sales and Leaders..., Prospecting, Cold Calling and Networking, Sales Training, Selling Advice, Videos
Landslide.com recently recorded a video for a series with the theme: “Respect sales.” The idea is to show how sometimes people think salespeople have it easy – they get to travel, play golf, go on dinner outings etc. but the reality is far different.
So, what actually happens when a salesperson takes a prospect out on the golf course? Any good salesperson knows that deals just don’t fall out of the sky. Follow Landslide’s sales guy as he puts up with his difficult prospect and tries to close the deal. Click play on the video below.
If the video does not load, here is a link to the video.
Tags: funny, prospecting, sales, Sales Training, selling, video
Expose The Perfectionist In You
Dec 2, 2006 Books by Keith Rosen, Business Advice, Business Coaching, Clients are fun. Case Studies in Sales and Leaders..., Executive Coaching, How To Sell and Sales Tips, How to Manage Your Team, Leadership Academy, Life Coaching and Career Coaching, Live Responsibly: Life Tips, Great Living, Sales Management, Setting Goals
Excerpt from The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Closing the Sale by Keith Rosen. Reprinted with permission by Alpha Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Release Date, January, 2007. Visit www.guidetoclosingthesale.com.
Paul, one of my clients was involved in a terrible car accident that almost left him paralyzed. Being an eternal optimist and a student of possibility, Paul persevered. He didn’t listen to the nay-sayers and to the doctors when they told him he may never be able to walk. He tapped into his internal strength and refused to surrender.
After several lengthy surgeries, the addition of a titanium rod in his leg, countless months in rehab, and a relentless drive to overcome the odds against him, Paul regained his ability to walk; something that his doctors told him may never happen again.
Paul turned what could have been a tragedy into a new career for himself, becoming a well-known motivational speaker.
Now, for those of you who are wondering how one goes about becoming a motivational speaker, it’s pretty much the same as developing any other business. You need to develop your product and brand, presentation, sales strategy, business plan and marketing campaign.
It was about the fourth month we were working together that Paul was ready to start marketing his services. He had his first presentation or seminar developed. We worked together on finalizing his sales and marketing strategy. Paul was ready to hit the streets and start bringing in new clients.
At least I thought he was. Wait, that’s not accurate. He was ready, I knew he was ready and Paul verbally admitted he was ready from an organizational standpoint. However, there was a disconnect between the things Paul developed that were ready for launching his business and him actually feeling ready to go out and close his first sale.
Here were some of the red flags that indicated there was something else going on in Paul’s mind that prevented him from putting himself out there in the marketplace.
“Keith, I’m almost ready. I’m just not ready yet. You see, I still have to get my business cards done.”
One week later here’s what I heard from Paul. “Keith I’m still not ready yet. I also need to complete my website. And then, there’s my presentation that I need to tweak a little bit. Once that’s done, I’ll be ready. Oh, I mean after I finish the PowerPoint presentation. And I still have to get that professional photo taken and…”
Just when I thought Paul exhausted all the possible excuses that were preventing him from taking action, he came up with one last one. (Actually, it was the last one I allowed him to come up with, before calling him out on all of these diversionary tactics he created for himself that justified his avoidance of taking action and selling.)
It was during coaching call when Paul would typically inform me about his achievements throughout the prior week.
Paul was telling me about how much progress he’s made with identifying his initial round of companies to target who would be a perfect fit for his services.
“That’s wonderful,” I exclaimed, happy to hear that he had identified the companies to begin calling on. “So, what day this week do you want to commit to calling on these companies?” I asked.
“Well,” Paul began reluctantly, “Here’s the thing. I need to do a little more research on these companies before I start calling on them.
Paul was clearly wearing his perfectionism on his sleeve. I inquired, “Okay Paul, so tell me, exactly when will you be ready?”
“Well” Paul began. I sensed he was about to come up with a laundry list. Yup, I was right. I stopped him before he got on a roll.
“Paul, lets look at this through a different set of lenses for a second, okay? What if you were ready, right now, today? After all, you shared with me that you have essentially everything you need to launch your company and start selling and most important you have your heart, your passion and your drive to share your story and inspire others.”
“Yes, but well, it’s still not completely finished.”
“So, when you say, completely finished, is it possible that what you really mean is completely perfect?”
Silence. A few minutes later, Paul reluctantly agreed with me.
Paul suffered from a clear case of perfectionism. And while this is a very elusive diversion we use to often keep us from taking action, Paul felt that in order for him to be ready, he had to have everything perfect, including himself.
Believing that you are “almost ready” is the same as saying “I almost made that sale.” Neither pay the bills.
So, when researching the companies he wanted to call on, it only made sense that Paul became a knowledge junkie, believing that if he could get everything perfect and learn everything he needs to know about public speaking and about his prospects (which of course, could never actually be achieved), he would then be ready to go out and sell. (Thankfully, we caught this early enough before he even tackled the thought of developing the “perfect close.”)
After discussing the consequences of his actions (or lack there of) Paul soon realized that it is who he is and his experience he could share that is the greatest gift he could give to his audience.
Besides, if you strive for perfectionism, and there’s truly no such thing as being perfect, then what kind of disconnect do you think you would create between you and every prospect you speak with? (You being perfect and everyone else being well, a mere mortal?)
Here are five questions to see if there’s any perfectionism in you we can expose.
1. Is there a fairly long list of people who have disappointed you throughout your life or career? How well do people line up to meeting your expectations you have of them? (And what’s that about?)
2. After completing an assignment or project, such as a proposal, writing an article or a newsletter, how much additional time do you take to make sure it’s, how do you say; “Ready.”
3. Are you satisfied in each area of your life?
4. When completing a project, task or goal, or when you make a substantial sale, is that sense of achievement fleeting or long lasting? (When is enough, actually enough?) Realize you don’t have to choose between feeling fulfilled and satisfied and wanting to achieve bigger goals. You can actually have both; fulfillment in your life and in your career today while enjoying the pursuit of lifelong learning, continued development and meaningful, value-driven goals.
5. Do you find yourself often building evidence to support your case, make yourself right or prove your point? Are you rarely, “wrong?”
Paul welcomed himself back to the human race and soon found out that it was the vulnerability he experienced from the accident which people connected with and made him human. Paul continues to inspire people around the world to this day.
Master the Basics
Nov 20, 2006 All About Selling, Business Advice, Business Coaching, Clients are fun. Case Studies in Sales and Leaders..., Goal Setting, How To Sell and Sales Tips, Leadership Academy, Life Coaching and Career Coaching, Sales Training, Selling Advice, Setting Goals, Time Management Tips
Excerpt from The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Closing the Sale by Keith Rosen. Reprinted with permission by Alpha Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Release Date, January, 2007. Visit www.guidetoclosingthesale.com.
A client I had worked with about a year ago recently emailed me, requesting some time to talk. When we finally got on the phone together, it was apparent why.
Miki was a seasoned executive recruiter. She hired me initially because her sales were down and thought a coach might be able to give her the extra guidance and motivation she needed to get out of this slump. (She was right.)
After three months of coaching, Miki was back on top, the top fifth recruiter out of about 200.
Well, recently it seems as if Miki’s numbers were sliding again and instead of waiting, she immediately reached out for help.
“Keith, I don’t know what’s going on. I mean, I know we haven’t worked together in about a year and for a while I was doing great! But for some reason, I’m feeling stuck again.”
“I’m glad you reached out as soon as you noticed that something was off. Lets do a quick diagnostic and see how things are running.”
“Sure.”
“So, if you were standing on a 100 foot balcony looking down onto your entire sales process, where do you feel the breakdown is occurring; when attempting to get the appointment, when presenting, closing, or following up?”
“Well, I’m using your template for cold calling and that continually works great so the leads are pretty consistent. And the presentation seems to go just fine. So, I guess closing the sale is where I’m stumbling. If I were to look at what’s taking up my time now, I have a handful of proposals out there waiting to be closed. And the prospects I’m meeting with are just not closing; for whatever reason or excuse they give me. The proposal stage and their decision making process seems to drag on indefinitely.”
“So, you’re getting in front of the right people, you feel that your presentation flows well and that you are doing a good job establishing a rapport and relationship with your prospects. However, you feel that these prospects should be able to make their decision faster as it relates to buying from you or not, is that what I’m hearing?”
“Yes, Keith, that’s right.”
“Miki, in the spirit of exploring every possibility and not to step over anything, are you still using the sales process that we put together?”
“Oh yes, of course!”
“You are. Good. Then lets take a quick look at a few things you’re currently doing. Miki, do you remember when we developed your pre-closing and reconfirmation approach to include at the end of your presentation?”
“Um, yes.”
“Are you still asking those five pre-qualifying questions before you discuss your pricing? You know, those questions that ensure you’ve addressed every concern they have, while confirming that your service is something they can clearly benefit from?
Silence. Then, Miki responded quietly with, “Hmm. No, I forgot about those.”
“Well that’s good news! At least we’ve uncovered one critical step in your process that you’re not currently doing which has proven to be very effective. Once you start asking these questions again, you will notice a big difference in your performance. In addition, you won’t be wasting your time drafting proposals and following up with unqualified prospects who you shouldn’t be following up with in the first place.
And what about the questions we developed to defuse the objections you hear? I know that you were running into the “send me a proposal” and the “I have to talk this over with my board” and the infamous “that’s a lot of money” objection. The rebuttals we developed were squashing and preventing these objections consistently, remember?”
“Yes, I most certainly do remember, Keith. I especially remember that when I used them, these objections weren’t getting in my way! The problem is I totally forget about those rebuttals as well! How weird is that?”
We ended our call a few minutes later after I coached Miki and her memory on what she needed to reconnect with in her selling approach. Not surprisingly, she emailed me a week later about a few sales she was able to close as a result of doing what she needed to do again; the basics. Miki got back to the basics of what made her successful.
Interestingly, while I identified certain things that Miki clearly needed to change for the better, it was nothing she hasn’t tried, created or done successfully before. Her real enemies were success, complacency and time.
Whether we’re in a slump or selling like a pro, when something is always going on we become blind to it. That includes becoming complacent or often blind to the good things in our life as well as the bad. Of course, this does not exclude the productive behavior and actions we take in addition to the unproductive ones. We sometimes forget what has worked for us, what has specifically contributed to our success; the things that have become habitual. And when something becomes a habit, it’s now working in the background of our lives, being done without conscious attention. We no longer have to think about doing them. Therein lies the danger.
Tip from The Executive Sales Coach:
Here’s an elusive diversionary tactic to consider.
If you continually forget everything you’ve learned, then you can always claim that you have adopted and utilized what you’ve learned. And if you continually feel that you’re using everything you’ve read, heard or seen and nothing is working, what a wonderful opportunity to look outside yourself and blame your poor performance on everything except you. After all, you’ve tried and done everything, right? In your mind you have the validation to support such a claim, which is really an excuse in disguise. So, if you forget about it, then you are always right (and never accountable). Get it?
When coaching someone out of a slump who has all of the right components to succeed, most of the time it’s the basics which have been ignored or forgotten that contributed to the breakdown. The basic questions we ask, the presentation we deliver, the process we’ve developed that has successfully worked time and time again. Some how, some way, we get sidetracked, distracted or seduced by something we perceive to be better (or worse), like a new selling strategy or approach, status quo, even our attitude. Consequently, we mistakenly change what was clearly identified as an approach or mindset that was working well.
The next time you experience a selling slump or you feel that sales aren’t coming to you as easily has they once did, go back to the basics. Instead of doubting yourself and your abilities, see what you need to be reminded to do consistently again in your selling approach. Look at the engine that drives your sales. You may notice that the only thing needed may be a quick tune up to enhance your performance. It’s all in your control.
Build the Confidence of A Champion
Nov 10, 2006 All About Selling, Books by Keith Rosen, Clients are fun. Case Studies in Sales and Leaders..., Executive Coaching, How To Close The Sale, Life Coaching and Career Coaching, Prospecting, Cold Calling and Networking, Sales Management
The Secret to Building the Confidence of A Champion
Excerpt from The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Closing the Sale by Keith Rosen. Reprinted with permission by Alpha Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Release Date, January, 2007. Visit www.guidetoclosingthesale.com.
Lacking some confidence? Do you suffer from low self-esteem? As you can imagine, there’s no room at the champion roundtable for doubt or anything less than a winning attitude. So, how do these top producers do it? How do so many of them go from initially lacking the confidence to sell or close a deal to an extreme abundance of self worth?
Here’s the secret to boosting your confidence today; make confidence a choice. Wait, I know what you may be thinking; it sounds too easy. It has to be more difficult than this. Well, it depends upon the foundation and the strategy in which you’re using to build your confidence. Here’s one story that will introduce you to a whole new set of tools to do so; starting with choice.
“So, I guess you could sense a change in the tone of my prep form that I sent you for our sales coaching call today?”
It was Denise calling in for her 7 A.M. coaching call. Prior to each coaching call, clients email me their objectives for the call and their week in review. This way, they stay focused, accountable to their commitments and have the opportunity to celebrate their wins each week.
She was right. “If you are referring to the sentence where you wrote, ‘I feel like getting out of sales completely and getting a mindless job somewhere else, maybe the government,’ or the sentence, ‘maybe I’m not cut out for this’ then yes, I do sense something else may be off here.”
Denise and I have been working together for about seven months now. She’s made incredible breakthroughs in both her performance and her attitude. As a result, she was offered a promotion from Regional Sales Manager to National Account Manager. With this promotion came a territory change as well as a new type of prospect. Where her average sale used to be about $10,000 – $20,000, now her average sale was approximately $250,000.
“What caused this sudden change in attitude?” I inquired.
“Well, you know how we’ve been talking about the prospects that I’ve been filling in my pipeline? At this point in time, many of those prospects should be converting into sales. So, I started making my follow up calls as scheduled. Nothing but “Call me next week” or “Now’s not a good time” or “If you would like to leave a message…”
“I guess you could say that I’m getting a bit antsy. I want some of these deals to close already so that I can post some positive sales numbers towards my quota. As you can probably hear, I’m a little nervous. What if these deals don’t close?”
“You tell me, Denise. What if these deals don’t close?”
“I can tell you this, Keith. It won’t be a good thing! Maybe I never should have taken this national account position. I knew it was going to be a big change from regional sales but I didn’t anticipate such a change in the length of my sales cycle.”
“Maybe?” Am I sensing some doubt in you?” I asked curiously?
“Oh, absolutely,” Denise exclaimed.
“And what, may I ask, are you doubting?” I responded.
“Myself,” Denise said quietly in a deflated voice. I could hear her confidence waning. It was as if someone reached inside her soul and ripped all of the self worth out of her.
She continued, “And I know it’s just a matter of time until Lewis, you know, my boss, calls me with some bad news like, ‘Denise. We really expected a lot more out of you. We thought you’d be much further along than you are. Denise, your fired’!”
I always find it amazing how creative our minds can be when it comes to visualizing our consequences and fears.
I shifted gears. “Denise, I’m curious about something. Didn’t you recently start this position?”
“Yes, about 4 months ago.”
“And isn’t it true that you’ve already closed and up-sold some big accounts?
Well, yeah but that was like a month ago and I haven’t sold anything since. Besides it…
Before the next excuse came out, I interrupted with, “And isn’t it also true that you’ve gotten at least two deliberate and intentional accolades from both your new boss and his boss about how thrilled they are with what you have done so far?”
Silence.
“I’m sorry, Denise, but can you speak up a bit. I wasn’t able to hear you,” I said sarcastically, yet in a way that still made Denise feel empowered and supported.
“Denise, what are you hearing in what I’ve just shared with you?” I asked.
“That maybe I’m being a bit too hard on myself,” she reluctantly admitted.
“Does that feel true for you?” I reconfirmed.
“No, Keith, this is right on the money.”
“Well, are you ready to hear a little more that may also be right on the money but just a bigger pile of money?”
“Hit me!” She exclaimed. “I’m ready for it.”
Fueling Self Doubt
I continued. “You had mentioned that you confidence, your self worth, your self esteem, however you want to refer to it has been deflated as a result of what you perceive as low productivity. Because you haven’t brought in any new sales recently, you doubt yourself and your abilities. Is that accurate so far?”
“Yup.”
“So, can I then conclude that you measure your self worth by what you produce? That is, if you are closing new business practically each week, then your confidence would skyrocket to an all time high.”
“That is for sure!” Denise exclaimed.
“Conversely, where you feel like you are now, where you haven’t sold, it’s affecting your confidence and the faith you have in yourself.”
“No question there.”
“Denise, what does the word ‘confidence’ mean to you?”
I could hear her thinking. “I don’t know. I guess confidence means being in control. It’s when I have control over something. It’s a feeling of control and a belief in what I can do,” she replied.
“So, in essence you are only worth as much as you’ve sold recently? Wow! That must be an interesting roller coaster ride of emotion you’re on.”
“You can say that again, Keith!”
I continued. “So basically, if you sell, you’re feeling great. You’re in a positive state of mind. You are in a good mood and feeling a strong sense of worth about yourself. Conversely, if you don’t sell or don’t get the appointment or get in touch with a certain prospect that you’ve been attempting to connect with, you’re feeling pretty lousy about the day and about yourself. Denise, is this strategy of yours working for you?”
“Well,” Denise began, “I don’t know if it would necessarily say this is working for me. After all, it’s certainly causing way too much stress, anxiety and overwhelm. And it also keeps me from enjoying my family and maintaining my peace of mind.”
“So, would you be open to hearing what I’m seeing and a new way of thinking that would remove your self doubt as well as the stress that follows, permanently so that you can start enjoying your life more?” I inquired, getting permission to continue our conversation and share some truths with her that I see.
“C’mon, Keith. We’ve been down this road before. Just lay it on me. I’m open to another way of thinking if it’s going to keep me sane, happy and employed.”
“Of course. Consider this; do not allow external situations to dictate your internal condition.”
“Wow, that’s heavy. Is this another Keithism?”
I smiled, “Let me explain. You mentioned earlier that confidence is a belief in yourself. Where do we adopt these beliefs we have about ourselves? From our experiences and from other people. At some point during our life we learned the wrong lesson based on an experience we had. And the lesson was, if you want to be successful you need to acquire things. You need to prove yourself and your self worth. And those things you can acquire can be anything from money, cars, homes, toys, clothes, and in this case, sales because if we acquire these things, if we create these things or work hard to achieve them, then we will be successful based on our current definition of success. And if we’re successful we’ve proven ourselves. And if we’ve proven ourselves then boy won’t our level of confidence continue to rise.
Tip From Your Executive Sales Coach:
Let your peace of mind, happiness, confidence and self worth be a choice you make consciously, rather than surrendering your power by allowing external situations to dictate your internal condition for you.
Now, keep in mind, based on this model, your level of self worth and confidence has become conditional. That is, it goes up and down depending upon on what you’ve achieved or produced rather than what is truly important; who you are.”
“That’s pretty much true for me.” Denise said.
Make Confidence a Choice
Conversely, what if we don’t allow external situations to dictate our internal condition? What if your confidence is, simply just a choice you make about yourself? A belief in yourself?
Let me say this in a different way. What if you could choose to be confident, choose to have faith in yourself and adopt an unwavering belief in your abilities, regardless of the outcomes of each day? Consider for a moment that you have already proven yourself and all of your future accomplishments are achieved as an expression of what you value or the value you want to deliver to others.
If you can believe in this, your confidence now becomes unconditional as it is now based on who you are and the quality of the person you are, not simply what you do or what you produce.
The value you deliver isn’t only reflected in the number of sales you make. Your value isn’t what you do, but who you are and the quality of person you have become and are continually evolving into. Who you are is consistent, who you are is a choice, who you are is something you control 100 percent. That’s why who you are is always more important than what you do.
That’s why the true definition of confidence is having an unwavering faith or belief not only in yourself but in each experience you have. And that belief is this; regardless of the situation, regardless of how bleak it may look or difficult it may be, it will all work out in the end without the evidence to support it. It’s trusting in yourself without any proof to back up your conviction.”
“Hmm, interesting,” Denise said after a few moments. “I can see how this makes sense but you can’t sit there and tell me that your attitude doesn’t change when you’re making sales each week!”
“I can certainly understand that Denise, and you are right. For most salespeople, meeting or exceeding your sales goals has a very clear and measurable effect on their attitude.
However, like most people would agree, the feeling of satisfaction you experience from closing the sale does not last. Conversely, it is fleeting until the next sale.”
And, doesn’t this support your old model of thinking? You’re putting yourself back into the confidence trap, surrendering your ability to control your level of self worth by choice and instead, allowing your experiences to dictate how you feel about yourself.”
Challenge your way of thinking and let your confidence be a choice based on an unwavering belief in yourself and in your abilities without needing the evidence to support it.
The Best Managers Are Fully Accountable For Their Communication
Sep 2, 2006 Business Advice, Business Coaching, Clients are fun. Case Studies in Sales and Leaders..., Communication, Executive Coaching, How to Manage Your Team, Leadership Academy, Sales Management
Highly Effective Leaders Are Fully Accountable For Their Communication
More than 65% of all problems or breakdowns that exist among people and within businesses occur as a result of faulty communication. The very thing that occupies approximately 70% of our waking hours is the very thing we have difficulty with the most.
Most of us were never taught how to communicate in a way that produces consistent results, so we continue to experience frustration, resistance, conflicts, or breakdowns. Although the style of communication varies from each leader, (high powered, humorous, low- key, etc.) a great leader is fully accountable not only for the message they deliver but for the way they are being heard. Enhancing your communication requires taking full responsibility for the outcome of each conversation; not only for what you are saying but for the message the other person is hearing. (I.e., Speaking in their “language”/communication style.)
Tip From The Coach: To strengthen your communication, ask yourself the following questions:
It is not the other person’s responsibility to understand what it is you are saying. It is your job to be understood.
Highly effective leaders are fully accountable not only for the message they deliver but for the message the other person is hearing. Producing greater, long-term results without conflicts or breakdowns requires taking full responsibility for the outcome of each conversation.
Fire Them or Keep Them Around? How Can Management Determine To Let Someone Go?
Sep 2, 2006 Business Advice, Business Coaching, Clients are fun. Case Studies in Sales and Leaders..., Executive Coaching, How to Manage Your Team, Leadership Academy, Sales Management
One Measurement to Help You Determine Whether or Not To Let Someone Go
During a seminar last week, I was asked by a group of senior managers, “When does it make sense to let someone go or invest the time in developing and retaining that person?”
Quite often managers are either thinking, “What’s best for that person? or “What’s best for me?”
Unfortunately, both of these questions cloud your view of the bigger picture; what is best for the company.
Ask yourself, when taking an action or speaking with someone, “Is what I am doing now helping the business?” It’s not about you and it’s not about them.
It’s about all of us and that means asking this question instead; “What is in the best interest of the company?”
For example, if you know someone may not be working out, how does this affect the overall division or company? What is best for the company? What are the consequences of keeping them or letting them go? At the end of the day, both you and your team have the same goals. Put your differences aside and work together to make this happen as one cohesive cooperative team.
Stop Pre-Judging and Start Pre-Qualifying Your Prospects
Aug 18, 2006 All About Selling, Books by Keith Rosen, Business Coaching, Clients are fun. Case Studies in Sales and Leaders..., Cold Calling Tips, Executive Coaching, Experiences in Marketing, How To Close The Sale, How To Sell and Sales Tips, How to Manage Your Team, Insights in Business, Leadership Academy, Life Coaching and Career Coaching, Live Responsibly: Life Tips, Great Living, Prospecting, Cold Calling and Networking, Sales Coaching, Sales Management, Selling Advice, Time Management Tips
Excerpt from The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Closing the Sale by Keith Rosen. Reprinted with permission by Alpha Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Release Date, January, 2007. Visit www.guidetoclosingthesale.com.
To permanently eliminate any confusion, lets draw a distinction between what it means to pre-qualify and pre-judge someone such as a prospect. If you read my cold calling book, you know that I’m a strong advocate of pre-qualifying anyone before you invest your very limited and precious time in meeting with or speaking with them. Conversely, pre-judging someone is something you do that shows up in the filter or barrier you have in your listening.
Here’s another way to distinguish between the two. When you are pre-qualifying someone you are arriving at a conclusion that determines whether or not there’s a fit worth pursuing based on a defined set of criteria you uncover through the use of well crafted questions.
Pre-judging said simply, is all about you. Here, you are relying on your faulty and costly assumptions, thoughts and beliefs to determine their needs and whether or not this prospect will potentially buy from you.
When you pre-judge someone you’re making assumptions about them before you ask any questions or uncover any facts.
When you pre-qualify someone, you’re asking questions to uncover their unique and specific needs without making any assumptions so that you can determine very quickly if there is in fact, an authentic fit worth pursuing.
When On A Sales Call – People Do What Makes Them Comfortable
Aug 11, 2006 All About Selling, Books by Keith Rosen, Clients are fun. Case Studies in Sales and Leaders..., Insights in Business, Live Responsibly: Life Tips, Great Living, Prospecting, Cold Calling and Networking
People Do What Makes Them Comfortable
When it comes to making a purchase, people do what makes them comfortable, rather than what makes the salesperson comfortable. Now, that doesn’t mean they are comfortable with the solution or even want to spend the money and make the purchase. (Just ask anyone who had a flood in their basement and needed to spend thousands of dollars investing in a waterproofing system for their home.) However, it does mean they have a level of trust and comfort in the salesperson, the sales process and the solution.
I remember something that my daughter did one day when she was five years old. We were getting ready to leave the playground on a chilly fall afternoon. She stood next to me, as I opened the car door.
Suddenly, she said, “Dad, I don’t feel well. My tummy hurts.” A few seconds later, she put her head in the car and puked all over her car seat and the car floor. Of course, my first reaction was, “Honey, are you okay?” She responded, “Yes, dad, much better. I think it was something I ate.”
Once I knew she was fine, I then had to ask her, curiously, “Baby, why didn’t you just put your head down and puke right in the street outside the car rather than inside it? Her response; “Oh daddy, it’s too cold outside. It’s much warmer in the car.” Starting at a very early age, people do what makes them comfortable.
Site Launched for New Book; Guide to Closing The Sale
Aug 4, 2006 All About Selling, Books by Keith Rosen, Clients are fun. Case Studies in Sales and Leaders..., Experiences in Marketing, Insights in Business, Leadership Academy, Live Responsibly: Life Tips, Great Living, Prospecting, Cold Calling and Networking
Just put the final touches on the site for my next book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Closing the Sale.
Talk about taking one subject many people struggle with and levitating it with what always seems to be a controvertial title (the “Idiot’s” portion of the title, at least). Lighten up. Your customers and prospects are.
I hope you enjoy Chapter One as well as the Introduction, which I’ve currently posted on this site and will be available only for a limited time. Wait until you get your hands on some of the techniques in this book. It doesn’t matter if you’re a sales veteran, top producer, new salesperson, manager or business owner, this book is packed with step by step and line by line Permission Based Selling and Presentation Strategies which I guarantee will bring in more sales for you.
So, feel free to visit the site. I’d also love to hear your comments as well! And if you haven’t already make sure you get my monthly ezine which will also keep you posted on other resources available only to those who know.
Creating Your Sandbox
Jul 20, 2006 All About Selling, Clients are fun. Case Studies in Sales and Leaders..., Experiences in Marketing, Insights in Business, Leadership Academy, Live Responsibly: Life Tips, Great Living, Prospecting, Cold Calling and Networking
Be Creative
It is three p.m. in the afternoon on a lovely fall day. You are on your way to work. As you walk by a school, you notice all of the children playing outside. You pause and watch them for a second. A flood of emotions and memories intoxicate your mind, as you remember yourself as a child. You admire their youthful exuberance, their unlimited supply of energy, their fervor for freedom, their passion for knowledge, their desire to learn and their boundless creativity.
Become a create freak rather than a control freak.
You listen to their conversations as they play. Some are talking about the planets they are visiting. Others are envisioning the castle in which they are playing in. They see this vividly, down to every detail, including the moat around the castle. Some pretend to be presidents, firemen, astronauts even doctors.
How creative children are! How powerful their minds are. Full of ideas with no inhibitions or limitations to restrain them. Children have the ability to visualize or imagine their true dreams. They bring their dreams into their reality and making them real.
The most creative time in a person’s life is from birth to the age of around eleven years old. This is the time when they are not constrained by rules or regulations. Children are not concerned with what is supposedly acceptable in thought or behavior and what is not, what is practically right or wrong, proper or improper, fact or fiction.
In a child’s eyes, there exists no boundaries. There is nothing to regulate them or inhibit their level of creativity. Everything that children see is new and exiting. They are constantly absorbing information and expanding on their ideas. The more they learn, the more children want to express themselves. They want to share what they have learned. They have no fear of rejection, of being wrong or of the unknown. Why? Because they have not experienced it yet!
The years begin to pass. The people in a child’s life, such as teachers and parents, begin to instill their values and ideals in the minds of their children.
As a child gets older, they begin to experience embarrassment, being wrong, having people put down their ideas and dreams and punishment for doing the, “wrong thing.”
The creative boy now becomes a man. His eyes no longer see the dreams and visions he had as a boy. He becomes serious; more focused on the perceived role to play in society and the pressures from his family. He concentrates on what he thinks he wants and needs. His thoughts and desires that he had as a child become clouded with every passing day, only to be replaced with more and more responsibilities. A mortgage, a job, a family.
He begins to lose sight of what was especially important in his life. The simple things. Freedom of expression, having fun, peace of mind, living simply, appreciating his surroundings, treating every day as a new adventure and not getting caught up in the manutia that blinds us from appreciating the beauty around us. All of the visions and dreams are put on a shelf where they begin to collect dust.
The man begins to forget what it was like to be creative, to dream and to imagine. Lack of creativity breeds complacency. He now becomes just like everyone else; another face, another number.
Imagine if we never lost our creative edge. Imagine what would be possible if we didn’t feel compelled to have to change, due to other people’s beliefs, perceptions or rules. Now imagine if you had the ability to share your visions and dreams with those around you.
Before you assist a customer in opening up their mind, you must first open up your own. Know what it is like to sit on a cloud. Can you see yourself sitting way up in the sky? Do you smell the crisp air? As you look down, do you see the whole world? Imagine there is nothing to restrain you. Look at the root of the word creative. Create. Take action to create your own destiny. Now, take the customer with you.
Anyone can study and memorize a presentation. Ask someone why they actually purchased from you. Will they say it was because you had the most beneficial package? They might. However, most of the time they will say it was because of you.
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