Too much competition, too little time and too much of the Internet are creating boundaries never experienced in the sales world. Competition and the economy has made the profession of selling more ruthless.



I recently sat down with a dear friend and current business owner who expressed to me her concerns over gaining new sales. Iris's expressed that customers no longer telephoned her for orders and many did not have the time or money to meet with her. Sales were poor because Iris was making some common mistakes. Her business is down by 30%. Not good for a small business owner that grossed over $1.5MM last year!

The reason for failure is constant errors. These faults are caused by lack of training, lack of attention and lack of knowing you are committing these fraudulent acts. In my opinion the ten most common include:

1) Poor opening statements that get a no!

2) Sending Unnecessary literature

3) Poor Telephone technique, sounding dispassionate

4) No Post Call Review

5) Poor Listening Skills

6) Not understanding how to befriend the gatekeeper

7) Inadequate of lack of open ended questions

8) No Pre Call Planning

9) Misunderstanding and Not identifying the objections

10) Reluctance to get a Commitment

In order for you to gain more customers, more contracts and more money you must become aware that you conduct these errors. As the CEO of your territory and your customers you must understand that in order to maximize revenues and be more efficient you must acknowledge that you make this errors.

1. First, answer the big questions.

Most sales professionals are in a rush to start doing. But success starts with defining. You should first address three essential questions: "Who I am?" "Where do I want to go? (in other words who are my clients?)" "How do I want to get there?" Your answers to these deceptively simple questions will become the genesis of your mission, your business plan, and the clients that you want to serve.

2. Write your mission statement.

Not to be confused with an advertising slogan, your mission statement should be a plain-language description of your company's reason for being: who you are, why you exist, what you hope to accomplish, and what you believe.

Why bother? Well, at the very least, a mission statement enables you to clearly and concisely describe your business vision with customers, and partners. Clients want to know "what's in it for me? By understanding your business and how your products and services meet the clients needs you become more focused on their issues.

3. Establish goals and objectives.

Ask many sales professionals what they want to achieve and the answers will boil down to, "Get online and make a lot of money." Attractive as that aspiration may be, it's too vague to be of any use in guiding your planning process.

Goals spell out the broad intentions of your business, and can be short- or long-term: "To become a leader in dollar market share of the widget market." "To be known in the industry as the leading innovator in widget innovation."

Objectives-whether financial or marketing-should quantify. Keep them specific, quantifiable and attainable, and include a time limit whenever possible.

4. Plan your Sales Calls.

I am amazed after so may years in sales how many people are in the business and never plan for a call. You have heard the analogy time and again, about departing for a trip unknown to you and not using a map. Would you want your airline pilot to fly a plane without proper coordinates? Why then would you get on the telephone, or schedule a meeting with a client without planning for it?

An old clich? states that if you fail to plan than you should plan to fail. This is true. You and only you as the sales professional must understand what you want to say, what you want to accomplish, what action steps you want to take and what you want to sell.

5. Strategies for Success.

Focus.

What are the wants and needs of the client? What are the business issues this person faces? What are the personal and professional reasons he or she would buy your particular product or service? Most reps focus on themselves, how much commission they are going to make and forget who they are selling to and why. Focus on the client, not yourself!

Relationship.

People want to have relationships with people. They won't buy large quantities of product from the Internet because they want to trust a human being. Think of a client relationship as a lifetime investment. This portion of the process fits in with my earlier thoughts of becoming a consultant not just a sales professional.

Energy.

Love what you do, love the product you are selling and love the people you sell with. If you don't, then get out. Your energy and enthusiasm come through on each and every call, if you are dispassionate, you will not ask the right questions, you will not read the buying signs, hear objections and importantly will not make any money.

Commitment.

Commit to your boss, to your job, and to being the best you can be. Identify with the client, When you commit you become energized and when this occurs you become the sales professional that you want to be, #1 in your field. Commit yourself to being the customer and becoming a mirror image of their thoughts.

Know the ...

The customer; the prospect; the product; the topic you are going to speak about when you meet with the prospect or client; the competitors, the marketplace and the issues that surround them; the questions you want to ask; the possible objections; the closing technique; the hot buttons--factors which allow the client to say yes to you; and finally, your own limitations.

Listen.

Understand the wants and needs of the customer and establish appropriate benefits you can offer; create a customized sales pitch that will meet these objectives. You do this by asking questions, lots of questions. Further your questions must be open ended. When you ask questions, you listen and when you listen you begin to better understand the drivers, the body language and the issues to get you closer to a YES! Enthusiasm. Again, love what you do or find another job to love.

Customers love to purchase products from people who are interested, involved and motivated to achieving long lasting success and resolving their business issues. Do you want to buy a product from an uninterested sales professional?

Copyright (c) 2007 Drew Stevens PhD