Iron Sharpens Iron

Graphic courtesy of www.sethrexilius.com on Compete4Christ Blog, March 15, 2014

If you haven’t read the introduction to this article, please go HERE and read Part I before continuing.

1. Be sold personally before you can sell others – Your first sale must be to yourself. It is key that you first master your own self-worth, self-image, and self-belief, or all else will fail. It may sound corny, but you must sell yourself on yourself. It’s also crucial that you be sold on what you sell and the value you deliver to customers. You’ve heard me say it before, but people can smell a phony for miles!

2. Be sold knowing that, without prospects, you will fail – Prospecting is the key to your sales career and the single biggest reason most reps don’t succeed. Most don’t tell their story to a sufficient number of qualified prospects. It’s critical that you approach your job as a creative salesperson who occasionally gets leads rather than a lead driven rep who rarely gets around to creative prospecting; whether that’s true or not.

3. Be sold on the fact that being trusted is more important than being liked – I’ve always said that people buy from people they like and trust, but trust trumps likability. If all you do is chit-chat about the customer’s antique car collection, stuffed fish, or framed autographs, you’re not inspiring much confidence. Buyers want to believe they will receive everything promised in exchange for a fair price. Sadly, if you’re just a positive, friendly salesperson your trust-meter isn’t rising very rapidly.

4. Be sold that the key to selling is in the questions – The sales process is all about what you ask not what you say. Unfortunately, most salespeople don’t realize that fact and eventually the wheels will fall off of their selling efforts. There are questions for virtually everything that should occur in the selling process and the quicker you master them the quicker you win.

5. Be sold that selling is about providing solutions – It doesn’t really matter how much you like to hear yourself talk, your job is to identify and eliminate pain. It’s simple, but never easy.

6. Be sold that you can minimize stalls and objections – Normally your buyer will object or stall when you haven’t built trust, asked the right questions, or listened to their responses. They also balk when your solution is wrong or when you try to move them along too fast. They might also object if you failed to create enough value to overcome high price perception or if they don’t believe your claims. That’s a lot to digest, so start chewing.

7. Be sold that closing is not just using closes – No agreement equals no sale, turning you into an unpaid entertainer. Most reps want more training on closing techniques, but that’s not really what they need. People don’t like to be sold, but they like to buy. Learn to make them happy and teach them to buy.

8. Be sold that whatever you promise, you should deliver more – Always under promise and over deliver, realizing that you are the face of your company. Therefore, when things go right you’re a hero. When things go poorly, you’re a heel and must stand in the gap and take the heat.

I sure miss my conversations with Jay. He endured so much, and accomplished so much more.

—————Welcome to 2018————–

Don’t forget that, “If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll keep getting what you’re getting.” Since most of us aren’t satisfied with that, why not start your new year with a new perspective on sales coaching for your people. Why not look at Doug’s suggestions HERE?

—————————————————–

©2018 Robinson Training Solutions, LLC