What do you do when you have a big sales week, month or quarter?

What do the other salespeople you work with do with their money?

Do you “reward” yourself? Do you “invest” in your future?

As salespeople we are notoriously known for the amount of toys we buy with our commissions. Killer stereo systems. Picture Cell Phones. Titanium Palm Pilots. Luxurious new clothes. Expensive lunches. Partying with our friends.

We say “I deserve this.”

I know that’s what I used to say.

Sales is hard. It gets all of our emotions riled up. Excitement. Fear. Anger. Juice. The thrill of the kill.

Your emotions are intense and very real.

So you want to reward yourself.

Rewarding yourself, is your way of feeling good after all you put yourself through to make the sales you did.

It’s a natural reaction to going through times of feeling fear, frustration, and stress.

Before we close another big sale we often feel fear.

Fear that you won’t close again.

Fear that you’ve lost your edge.

Fear that you will get fired and lose your job.

And then when you do make the sale, WHAM! Excitement! Elation! Relief!

It’s time to play!

This rollercoaster can be a lot of fun. But it also can be costly to your future.

Sales offers a real opportunity for men and women everywhere to make large sums of money and get out of the rat race.

The more you say “I deserve this” and “reward” yourself with toys and indulgences, the longer you be working for someone else in sales.

If you want to eventually get out of the rat race, you’ve got to have a reward system that will help you do it.

Consumption rewards just bandage you up and make you feel good for a little while.

Then you’re back at the sales game again, looking for more sales and the cycle starts over again: fear, frustration, stress, win, excitement, reward.

I know. I’ve been through this many times myself.

I can remember one of my first big sales wins. I took my sales partner and our wives out for a luxurious dinner at a restaurant that

I was very impressed with. It felt great that night to dine well and drink champagne.

But the next day I was worrying about the next deal, with a few hundred dollars less in my bank account.

I repeated this pattern of pain – win – reward for many years before I realized what I was doing to myself.

Then I changed my focus.

I focused on the future, and set some bigger goals for myself.

I changed my reward system. I now measure my rewards in terms of how much closer I am getting to complete financial independence.

Consumption is nice, and my family and I do live well.

But I am much happier focusing on the day that making money will be optional and not a necessity of my daily existence. It’s important to budget your commissions intelligently.

When you get a big commission check, take a substantial portion of it and save it. Build up your financial stockpile.

Set better goals for yourself. Goals such as “I want to make $200K this year” aren’t enough. You need to be more specific. You need to set goals for what you will do with this money (hint: complete financial independence is one of mine).

What you’ll find when you build your financial stockpile is that the fear, frustration and stress you experience decreases.

And by setting bigger and better goals, you’ll find it easier to build your financial stockpile because you’ll have highly motivating goals to keep you on course.

After all, did you really get into sales to just so you could buy the latest and greatest cell phone every year?

© 1999-2004 Shamus Brown, All Rights Reserved.

Shamus Brown is a Professional Sales Coach and former high-tech sales pro who began his career selling for IBM. Shamus has written more than 50 articles on selling and is the creator of the popular Persuasive Selling Skills CD Audio Program. You can read more of Shamus Brown’s sales tips at http://Sales-Tips.industrialEGO.com/ and you can learn more about his persuasive sales skills training at http://www.Persuasive-Sales-Skills.com/

There are many ways to reach out and find the people you are trying to attract for your business. Here are just a handful of ways to get you started:

1) Attend organization meetings

Where do people in your target market hang out? Research this, and then plan to attend a meeting or two to mix and mingle. What better way to meet and get to know these individuals while learning more about the market?

2) Offer to speak at a meeting or conference

What do you have to offer that you feel could be of value to those you are trying to reach out to? Present a short talk or slide show on a helpful topic. Be sure you present something of value to the group. What helpful tips or other material would hold ther attention, and entice them to learn more about you and what you do? Just give them a small taste of your skills and knowledge. Chances are, they will want to talk to you after the presentation.

3) Advertise in publications your target market reads

The Internet is a great place to research what publications are out there. You can probably even get your advertisement to appear online as well as in the hard copy of a publication. Advertising can be rather expensive, so be careful with this one!

4) Present a free teleclass

If you are not confident in your public speaking skills, but still feel you have something

of value to teach those you are trying to influence, try offering a no-cost teleclass. It is usually fairly inexpensive to rent a bridge line to host your class. You can teach from the comfort of your own home, too. This is also a great way to get a list of names to add to your subscriber list for mailings. If you are comfortable with this option, you can charge a small fee for future teleclasses you hold, which will bring you some passive income.

5) Start a blog

Write daily or weekly posts related to subject matter that will pique the interest of your target market. Spend time researching particular topics that you can write about. Then, add some pizazz…get excited when you post the information to your blog. If you’re excited about something, others will be too. And don’t forget to use keywords. These are what the search engines will use to find the content in your blog and draw others to it.

© 2005 Cynthia Morse, Virtually At Your Service. All rights reserved.

You’re welcome to reprint this story. If you do, please include this reference: Cynthia Morse is a Virtual Assistant, and the owner of Virtually At Your Service, http://www.virtuallyatyourservice.biz. She offers remote administrative support to small business owners and other busy professionals from her home office, allowing them the time to focus on what they love and do best.

I bet you thought the movie “Daddy Daycare” was a kiddie comedy, right? Wrong…It’s a marketing strategy film! When Charlie and his friend Phil are fired as Product Development/Brand Managers for a cereal company, they decide to fill a need in their community.

Along the way to success they demonstrate several solid marketing strategies — equally applicable to online, offline, and integrated companies. Take these lessons to heart when developing plans for your business.

Lesson 1: Research the competition

The future entrepreneurs visited each daycare in the area. While doing so, they got a feel for their daycare competitors. By knowing your own competitors you will be better able to effectively find a way to compete.

Competitor research does not have to be thought of as “guerrilla warfare.” In many industries, competitors work together by partnering, cross promoting, sending business to each other, or even manufacturing each other’s products.

Lesson 2: Know your customers’ values

Charlie and Phil understood that price is not the only important factor for their target market. Based on their own experience and customer research (talking to other parents), they recognized that other concerns besides price played a part when parents choose a daycare provider.

While price is almost certainly a consideration for your customers, don’t get caught in the mentality that customers will buy from you only if you have the lowest cost. If you think of your own service/product as a bundle of attributes having a unique value for your customers, you will be more successful.

Lesson 3: Identify opportunities

Charlie and Phil uncovered an unmet need in the market by combining their competitor research and knowledge of customer values. You can do the same when looking to develop new products/services or improve existing ones.

Lesson 4: Develop a positioning based on opportunity

Using knowledge from the first three lessons, they positioned themselves as the quality alternative and focused on providing different benefits than their nearest competitor. In the movie, Daddy Daycare stole all the competitor’s customers and drove her out of business.

In real life, customers choose a product/service that best fits their needs. Consequently, competitors can co-exist when each are valuable in different ways to industry customers.

Lesson 5: Create a catchy tag line

The tag line “Who’s your Daddy?” helped advertise the new business. Often, a concise, catchy tag line can go a long way in building brand equity, communicating benefits and features, and/or conveying a feeling/mentality your target customers can relate to.

Some examples:

“Just do it.” (Nike)

“Life

Unscripted” (TLC)

“Naturally sweetened whole grain oat cereal with real berries.” (Berry Burst Cheerios)

“Makes anything possible.” (Craftsman)

Lesson 6: Spread the Word

Phil and Charlie put their tag line on t-shirts along with their business name. They also printed and distributed flyers that explained their new company’s positioning.

A few more ideas you can use to spread the word about your business:

Word of mouth — give customers an incentive to tell people about your business. Advertising — use both online and offline methods. Online options include pay-per-click search engines and ezine advertisements. Offline methods include radio spots and newspaper advertisements. Philanthropy — donate money, services, and/or time to non-profit organizations or conduct your own event.

Lesson 7: Be ethical and above-board

The new business owners cooperated fully with the daycare inspector. They treated him as a source of information rather than “Big Brother”. This resulted in not only a better business, but also a valuable ally. In the long run, your own company will be more likely to thrive if you concentrate on improving the business rather than dodging regulations.

Lesson 7A: Subterfuge is a poor long-term strategy

Besides being unethical, subterfuge soils your reputation. In the movie, the competing daycare crashed and ruined a fundraiser event…spilling bugs, freeing animals, and drenching visitors. Short-term, it worked. Phil and Charlie were broke, seemingly with no way to continue with their venture.

In the long run, Ms. Subterfuge had such a poor reputation (from this and other business tactics), her business failed.

Lesson 8: Implement until you’re blue in the face

In the beginning, the new Daddy Daycare was a complete disaster. Charlie and Phil did their “homework” and knew they had a good idea. When reality hit theory, however, a few not-so-minor details got in the way. Like all successful marketers, they worked out the kinks (okay…disasters) and kept trying (and trying, and trying) until they got it right.

Keep the Daddy Daycare lessons in mind when developing and implementing your own marketing plan. Don’t give up, strive to continually improve, and you’re business is sure to be a success.

About the Author

Bobette Kyle draws upon 12+ years of Marketing/Executive experience, Marketing MBA, and online marketing research in her writing. Bobette is proprietor of the Web Site Marketing Plan Network, http://www.WebSiteMarketingPlan.com, and author of the marketing plan and Web promotion book “How Much For Just the Spider? Strategic Website Marketing For Small Budget Business.” ( HowMuchForSpider.com/TOC.htm )

Copyright 2004, Bobette Kyle. All rights reserved.

Standard metrics and KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) are created usually between The Sales Director, The Financial Director and The Managing Director. These KPI’s tell the sales teams what they should be doing. For example, ‘Your pipeline should be at least three times of your annual sales target’; ‘Your conversion ratio of opportunities to closed orders should be 60%’, and so on. Nothing like a bit of statistical analysis from the bean counters to motivate the sales team is there? Remember that old saying…’You can prove anything with statistics’. Here, we see it applied for real, albeit on an unconscious level.

In some extreme cases these so called sales processes and form filling exercises have to be followed, otherwise the sales teams’ commissions will be withheld! This is usually dressed as a ‘best practice’, whereas the reality is that the sales team is being treated like a spoilt child. No explanation is given as to how the information will be used and of what value this will be to the sales team or, indeed, how it is supposed to help the sales team close more sales which after all is their ultimate function. This is a simple threat that is applied to the sales team in an effort to force them to follow internal processes. This type of behaviour is not only destructive, unprofessional but it is also extremely de-motivating and more often results in reduced sales productivity rather than more productivity. However without lambasting Finance and Administration too much do have a role to play here, but should they be defining the sales processes? So long as their requirements are realistic and without the analysis/paralysis syndrome, they will actually complement the sales process and the result will be positive.

More to the point were sales teams ever consulted when the company decided to invest in the implementation of the CRM or asked about their requirements? For the vast majority they were never consulted or, if they were, only in a superficial way. Salespeople are viewed as disposable commodities in the race to increase the companies share price. So this cycle of procedural development continues and not surprisingly becomes regarded as ‘the way things are done here’.

Then some very strange things happen. New forms and documentation are circulated to the sales team and they are forced to complete them. The sales team become ever more suspicious of why all of this ‘inappropriate’ information is needed and begin to lose trust in the company. Now the fun starts – marketing discovers that they can’t use any of the information because it is incomplete and start issuing their own set of requirements – yet more forms and documentation for the sales teams to complete. And so the cycle continues to a point where the CRM application becomes viewed as a hindrance and not a valuable sales tool. Sales management will also find it increasingly difficult to get the sales team to provide the information about the status of their opportunities. Typically, sales people will come up with a standard reply angrily such as ‘I’m supposed to be out there selling, not doing admin!’

Unfortunately this is an all too common incident in corporate sales these days and one that you might recognise. On one hand you have the senior executives who made the CRM buying decision and are determined to see some tangible return from their considerable investment. On the other hand, you have the sales and marketing teams believing that ‘big brother’ is now watching their every move so that the information can be used to criticise them and possibly even get them fired – a recipe for reducing productivity rather than adding value. Furthermore, only very rarely does any review process exist. As the requirements of the company evolve, there is no means of accommodating these changes in the CRM application and even when sales suggest a better way of doing things they are told that the you can’t do it with the CRM system. What you end up with is a company that runs for the benefit of the internal sales processes as opposed to addressing the needs of the customers and the employees. In addition, the company and its employees forget why certain sales processes even exist and, worse still, nobody questions why.

Trusting Your Sales Team

Processes are important, but they must add value to both the sales teams and the company. If we get down to basics, why do we need all of these sales processes anyway? Quite simply, to generate a sales forecast and hence, to accurately predict the revenues in any given period. In reality this is actually not that hard to achieve.

The key to it is TRUST YOUR SALES TEAM.

Now consider the Sales and Sales Management team. They have been recruited, trained and developed at enormous expense to the company (check it out and add up all the money that has been spent to develop these people) – perhaps they even represent the single largest overhead for your company. Your have hired these people because they know how to do the job. Shouldn’t they be allowed to do it and remove all of the obstacles to productivity? They are the vehicle for the company’s products and services and the means of communicating the ‘go to market’ strategy. These are skilled executives whose income potential is in the top 5% of the company and they are surely by definition, trustworthy!

So why do companies insist on imposing such pointless processes on their sales teams? If anyone knows about sales processes surely it must be the sales teams themselves. Companies also need accurate sales forecasts. This is a sales management task. Focus on these processes to establish the probability of the

revenue opportunity rather than just getting sales teams to input information that, in some cases, may never even be used. By ensuring that the sales team has the responsibility and accountability for sales forecasting and setting their own objectives, you may be surprised by the results – These people will often set goals for themselves that are far greater than those you would set for them.

Sure, other departmental functions have their specific requirements, but this must be put in context. The most important characteristic is to ensure that everyone is clear on exactly why the process is there and feedback must be provided to the sales teams on a regular basis.

What you should be looking for?

Creating an environment addicted to imposing sales processes for sales process’s sake is particularly destructive. If sales teams believe that their ability to do the job is restricted with administrative tasks, their morale will be impacted. Sales people do require motivating on almost continual basis and they also need lots of feedback. If companies insist on demanding information and adherence to processes without offering feedback, they should not be surprised at the outcome, which will include reduced productivity, low morale, cynicism and high staff turnover throughout the sales and marketing function.

A view I recently heard from one employer was that, with the current unfavourable economic conditions, they can do more or less what they like with the sales team. Some companies believe there are currently more sales people available than there are jobs to go round. This is very arrogant and this particular type of narrow-mindedness will only promote further staff turnover and a higher cost of sales. Remember that the economic conditions will change and that sales people who have been subjected to this negative culture will resign at the first opportunity in other words as soon as the economy picks up and the offers start to come some of your most valuable assets will disappear. This will cause the company to endure more unnecessary costs and will further limit success.

Another company I know has a culture of compliance requiring that the sales teams follow processes with blind obedience. Failure of a single sales person to do so will result in them receiving warnings and eventually dismissal. This is the most unfortunate culture I have ever encountered. The sales teams have all of their natural creativity and individuality suppressed and their opinions are ignored, which merely serves to create a sales team filled with mediocrity, where below average performance is the norm and so often seems to be accepted.

What companies should do is to cultivate creativity and encourage individuality – rather than just talk about it. A process of constant improvement may not be the most fashionable management theory these days, but it does work. Rewarding team successes serves to increase morale and promotes high levels of staff retention. This open culture will come across to customers and strong, enduring business relationships will follow – yielding solid and conventional business performance.

What should you take into consideration?

The main things to consider when you have complex sales processes are:

1. Does the process genuinely add value to the sales team? Only if it does will you get what you want from the sales teams.

2. Will you stifle creativity with your CRM product?

3. Has the value of the process been communicated to the sales teams?

Do they know why other departments may need the information and how will it help them to increase sales? If the process has no context it also has no meaning.

4. Is the process necessary? Why is that particular process in place and who benefits from it? If the answers to these questions are in the negative, eliminate the process now.

5. Provide regular feedback to the sales team. This feedback loop will ensure that everyone is involved in the sales process and that you will gain commitment to move forward. You may also generate a cycle of continuous process improvement.

6. Cultivate an environment of openness and trust. Welcome new thoughts and ideas and manage this effectively with full disclosure and feedback.

7. Get the sales teams to own their sales forecast. By making the sales teams part of the process you will increase your chances of success. Remember to demonstrate your respect for their professional skills.

8. Does your CRM product allow you to create winning strategies?

Taking a closer look at your internal processes and ask yourself ‘Does this make sense?’ if you cannot answer yes get rid of it and start again. If you are able to answer yes then congratulate yourself – you already are winning more business than your competition and you have probably a better sales team that enjoy working for you!

I fundamentally believe in the value of CRM systems and there are many choices available but be cautious when implementing such a system, keep asking yourself ‘does this make sense for us’ – you know the answer, you know the people and you know the success achieved to date by your company. Don’t throw everything away and remember ‘we all have choices’ make sure the choices you choose add value.

© The Sales Academy 2005. You may include this article in your ezine or on your website or distribute it to others, provided you include the copyright statement and the bio information tag line found at the end of this article.

Bio Info:

Michael Palman, a global Master Sales Coach and author. Mike helps people and businesses do more, do it better and get the results that they want. Mike has had a successful career in sales for over 25 years and now helps salespeople, sales management & business owners get the sales edge. Mike lives in both the UK and South Africa.For more articles by Mike Palman, visit http://www.thesalesacademy.com

Imagine being in a crowded concert or bar. All of a sudden, afight breaks out between two men who’ve had too much to drink.

You happen to be a few steps away, and the next thing you know,one of the men turns to you and looks as if he’s going to take aswing at you.

What’s your first instinct? Most of us will do one of twothings. We’ll either try to step away, or we’ll raise our armsto deflect him and fight back, which can result in harm to youor to your attacker.

But if you were trained in Aikido, the Japanese martial art thatfocuses on diverting an attacker’s energy, you could quicklydiffuse the situation by immobilizing him without harming him inany way.

In essence, you’re diffusing the energy that he’s using to tryand attack you in a way that takes the conflict out of thesituation.

Unlock The Game and the philosophy behind Aikido have manysimilarities. Traditional cold calling and selling are designedto focus only on the “close” by presenting — or in too manycases, “pushing” — your solution onto prospects, sometimes evenwhen they’re not interested. But if you focus only on your goalof making the sale before having a discussion about the problemsthat you can help your prospects solve, something happens.

They start feeling that you’re “attacking” them. After all,you’re a stranger to them, and when you start talking aboutyourself and your solution rather than about them and theirspecific issues, you immediately trigger their suspicion andcause them to start “pushing back.”

This pushback is the resistance or energy that Unlock The Gameteaches you to diffuse. Then both of you can quickly “get on thesame page” and open a natural dialogue that will let youdetermine whether it makes sense for you to work together.

Let’s look at the cold calling experience.

Suppose you’re at your desk and you receive a call from someonewho says “Hi, my name is Jack Johnson, I’m with XYZ Company, andwe’re a full-solution provider of…” Is your first reaction towelcome and be open to his call? Or do your mental defensesimmediately

kick in and you shut down against this stranger“salesperson”?

Probably the latter, especially if you sense that the caller isfocused on his interests and not yours.

That’s why this old-school cold calling approach triggers theresistance and negative energy that prospects immediately throwyour way.

The Unlock The Game way to make a successful cold call –”successful” being defined as not triggering rejection — is bybeginning your call with, “Hi, my name is Jack, maybe you canhelp me out for a moment?” That simple question is a verynatural way of beginning a conversation with a stranger.

But you can’t just read this word for word, like a script. Itwon’t work. That would be like an Aikido instructor teaching afirst-time student the physical movements before he or she haslearned the philosophy necessary to carry them out.

The same applies here. First you need to integrate a new Mindsetthat changes the goal of your call from making the sale, orgetting an appointment, to engaging the person in a naturaltwo-way dialogue.

To do this, your voice has to be low-key. You have to avoidcommunicating any hint of typical “salesperson” enthusiasm, orany sense that you’re trying to direct the conversation to anend goal. Once you integrate the Mindset, all this kicks innaturally.

So, if you want to succeed in prospecting and cold calling,become aware of how you might be triggering the resistance orenergy that instinctively causes prospects to push back againstyou. Keep in mind that this process will work only if you fullyintegrate the Mindset so it feels as natural to you asbreathing.

In short, if you’re using any form of traditional selling, youcould be triggering a resistance every time you communicate withyour prospect. But if you learn this new Mindset, along withwords and phrases that remove any conflict or tension from therelationship, you’ll have taken your first steps toward yourblack belt in unlocking the cold calling game!

Ari Galper makes cold calling painless and simple. Learn his cold calling secrets that even the sales gurus don’t know. To receive your 10 free audio mini-lessons visit http://www.Unlock-The-Cold-Calling-Game.com

Question: What do the following have in common?

- I spend a lot of time spinning my wheels and not getting very much done.

- I am continually frustrated with the performance of my sales team.

- Why can’t my sales team be more independent thinkers? They come to me with EVERYTHING!

Answer: These statements reflect people who are continually frustrated with the same problem. They are stuck and their problems can probably be traced back to making Big Assumptions.

Making assumptions about yourself or others, without checking them out, can diminish your effectiveness.

Now, there are assumptions . . . and then there are Big Assumptions. A Big Assumption is an assumption about ourselves that masquerades as the truth. We don’t even know we hold them, yet they inform how we make decisions, and then how we act based on those decisions.

Note: our Big Assumptions always have dire consequences attached if we don’t live up to them. They’re nasty.

A Big Assumption in the ‘spinning my wheels’ example could be that this sales manager can’t say no to requests. She assumes that if she does, she won’t be seen as a strong leader, people won’t like her and she’ll be shunned.

Here are some common Big Assumption that I see many sales people and sales managers hold:

· They assume that the have to do everything themselves, do it well, and do it today. If they don’t, they assume they will be seen as weak, ineffective, or a loser.

· Many sales managers constantly solve other people’s problems. The Big Assumption could be that if the salesperson solved the problem themselves in a less than perfect way (i.e. the sales manager’s way), the sales manager would be seen as a failure. Or, that the sales manager’s service would no longer be needed. Who needs a manager when people can solve their own problems?

The list is endless. I have noticed that my own Big Assumptions are bigger when I am in a bad mood and begin to disappear when I am feeling good. My definition of a bad mood is feeling lonely or overwhelmed.

I can (usually) interrupt the downward spiral of a Big Assumption by looking at my moods. When I feel overwhelmed and/or

lonely, I look for my Big Assumption and I question it.

My moods remind me to challenge my Big Assumptions by doing something different. First, I have to notice and admit I am caught in the Big Assumption spiral (the hardest part.) I keep a list on my desk of the Big Assumption to challenge, and note what is going on to make me feel this way. Then, I intentionally take a walk, notice things that make me smile, give myself permission to be imperfect, and make a date to see a colleague who I know will give me feedback, advice or energy.

What are your Big Assumptions, and how are they keeping you stuck?

BUSTING ASSUMPTIONS CHALLENGE

1. Observe how your Big Assumptions show up in your thoughts and behaviours. This month, look at your moods and see if they reflect a Big Assumption playing itself out. Don’t try to change anything; just notice (and maybe write down) where and how Big Assumptions show up and what happens as a result.

2. Once you firmly understand your Big Assumptions, actively look for proof that casts doubt on them. In the case of solving other’s problems, hold off giving advice, let people run with their ideas, and see what happens. Did you get fired? Do people really see you as a failure? Or, did something else happen?

Have fun with it! You’ll be taking steps toward becoming a more effective sales manager, inspiring success in your sales team, and connecting more deeply and authentically with others.

—

This article may be reprinted in its entirety with express written permission from Nicki Weiss. The reprint must include the section “About the Author”.

About the Author

Nicki Weiss is an internationally recognized Certified Professional Sales Management Coach, Master Trainer, and workshop leader. Since 1992, Nicki has trained, certified, and/or coached more than 6,000 business executives, sales managers and salespeople.

Nicki guarantees increased sales performance when sales managers become better sales coaches. Sign up for her FREE monthly e-zine, Something for NothingTM, which has powerful tips and techniques for sales managers who are ready to make this transformation. Sign up at http://www.saleswise.ca You can email her at nicki@saleswise.ca or call 416-778-4145.

You must be able to coordinate your sales talk to service whatever step in the selling process the customer has arrived at in their mind.

Remember, the five fundamental states of mind that comprises the selling process are curiosity, interest, conviction, desire, and decision and action.

While you are giving your sales presentation pay strict attention to how your prospect responds to your sales talk. Of course, if the prospect is already at the second or third stage of the selling process, you should move on to the next stage.

Always try to find out what the prospect wants most out of your goods. Some people will be interested in every aspect of your proposition. Some will choose one, or two things that are of the greatest value to them.

Say a salesperson is selling a popcorn machine and they have told the customer all the benefits of owning one.

Salesman:

“Mrs. Jones, this popper cleans up in a breeze. All parts except the stand can be immersed in water and dishwasher safe, so it will be easy to keep clean. This machine will leave few kernels unpopped. In fact, each tasty morsel will be plump and wholesome. Our little popper does the job of some of the more expensive brands on the market and at a third of the price. And it will not only produce the best tasting popcorn, it will save you time, energy and money.”

Mrs. Jones:

“Did you say the popper comes apart and each piece can be immersed in water?”

Salesman:

“Yes Mrs. Jones, everything but the stand. All of the parts to the popper come apart for easy clean up. They can be washed in your kitchen sink, or dishwasher. This will do away with greasy build up since it only takes a little soap and water to clean it and no elbow grease.”

Mrs. Jones:

“How much is it?”

Salesman:

“It regularly sells for $19.95, but we’ve reduced the price for our grand opening. Your price today is just $15.95.”

Mrs. Jones:

“I’ll take two of them. One for my mother and one for myself.”

Salesman:

“You’ve made an excellent choice Mrs. Jones.”

The salesman picks up two popcorn machines and goes to the cash register to type up the order. He stopped selling because he closed the sale.

In the above example Mrs. Jones was most interested in the easy clean up. The money she would save was secondary, or of little concern, if any. She was mainly interested in how easy the popcorn popper was

to clean because that saved her time and energy.

How do you test to see if a prospect is ready to buy?

You must give the prospect a chance to show how he feels about your proposition. Some customers will make it known to you that they are ready to buy, still another customer may be ready to make a purchase, but hides this from you. The best way to find out if this type of prospect is ready to buy is to give a closing appeal.

Ask a question, such as, “How many of these can you use Mr. Smith?” or, “We can fill your order immediately.” or, “What sizes will you be needing?” This tests the prospect’s interest and gives them a chance to buy.

Don’t make the mistake of asking the prospect how they feel about your proposition, or “Don’t you think you should buy this widget?” The answer will probably be no.

If after all this, you discover the prospect is not ready to buy, no harm is done. But you have implanted the suggestion of buying on their mind. How this plays itself out depends on what you say next. The prospect’s interest in buying could grow, or fall flat. Start the selling process again from the beginning. Because until the prospect is ready to buy, you are not through selling.

There is a danger in moving on to something else and not closing the sale at the right moment. The customer may get out of the buying mood and began having second thoughts about making a purchase. They may loose interest in what you say next because you didn’t reel them in when they were ready. They may decide they can get along without the item, or they may remember they have a bill to pay.

When the customer is ready to buy give them the opportunity, or when you’re ready to close, they’ll be ready to quit.

Copyright © 2005 Gloria Whitehorn-All rights reserved

About the Author:

Gloria is an article writer, business owner, author of two books, salesperson and seasoned mail order pro. Visit her site for information on a great part-time, full-time-anytime business. She knows what she’s talking about.

http://www.dovemang.com

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It sometimes surprises people when I tell them I getslightly nervous before a speaking or training event. Theyseem to think that because I’ve been doing it for years,nervousness would no longer be an issue.

However “nerves” is a normal human emotion and as I oftensay – “I’d be nervous if I wasn’t nervous!” However, it’show you handle the nerves that will determine your successas a speaker.

Similarly, many sales people feel nervous or uncomfortablemaking cold calls, phoning for an appointment or followingup an enquiry. Again, this is a normal response and mostsales people feel this way.

One of the biggest fears for humans is the fear of rejectionand we’ll do almost anything to avoid it. It stops peoplemaking speeches, contacting customers, asking for the order,or even asking someone out on a date.

Successful people

feel the fear of rejection but they don’tallow it to paralyse them. They take action even althoughthey feel uncomfortable. And of course, the more you do itthe less uncomfortable you feel.

In the many challenges you face in life you won’t “win themall” but you must have the courage to try. I read somewherethat – “winners make mistakes but losers never do.” That’sbecause winners have the courage to try and they knowthey’ll make mistakes; however that’s how they learn andmove forward.

Discover how you can generate more business without havingto cold call!Alan Fairweather is the author of “How to get More Saleswithout Selling” This book is packed with practical thingsthat you can do to – get customers to come to you. Click here nowhttp://www.howtogetmoresales.com and http://www.alanfairweather.com

There seems to be a never ending argument among marketing andsales professionals as to what really is the difference betweenmarketing and sales functions. More often than not, bothbusiness activity terms are used to describe any businessactivity that is involved in increasing revenues. For smallbusinesses, with limited resources, there often is no practicaldifference in marketing and sales functions, all revenuegenerating activities are typically implemented by the samepersonnel.

As a company grows in revenues and number of personnel, ittypically follows a logical business function progression of“specialization”, a process where the lines between moregeneric, departmental descriptions and functions became muchmore definitive and associated functional responsibilitiesbecome much more focused. Marketing and sales functions are noexception.

Marketing and sales functions are diverse yet veryinterdependent. Typically “sales” cannot exceed revenueobjectives without an effective marketing planning and support,and “marketing” directives ultimately becomes useless withoutsales to implement the plan.

Like many complex business issues, it is sometimes easier todefine something by what it’s NOT as it is to define it by whatit is. Let’s take a closer look at marketing to better definewhat sales is not.

Simply defining “marketing” as the “Four P’s”, product, price,place and promotion, based on your Marketing 101 class incollege is not practical in today’s global markets. In ageneral sense, marketing is more theoretic than sales, focusedon purchase causality and is more prescriptive in purpose thandescriptive. Marketing involves micro and macro market analysisfocused on strategic intentions where sales is driven more bytactical challenges and customer relations. Let’s take a closerlook at how marketing is truly different from sales:

Marketing responsibilities are distinct from sales in thatmarketing:

* Establishes and justifies the company’s best competitiveposition within a market

* Initially creates, helps sustain, and rigorously interpretscustomer relationships

* Locates and profiles potential markets and key participantswithin

* Generates quality sales leads

* Develops effective selling tools

* Formally analyzes and tracks competitor’s business strategiesand tactics

* Defines, prioritizes and justifies new product or serviceimprovements and developments

* Promotes an explicit company product or service image

* Facilitates information transfer from customers to the rest ofthe company

* Simplifies the customer’s product or service procurementprocess

A full time Marketing Manager would be responsible for thefollowing tasks:

New Product Rollouts:

Strategy development, program incentives,

timing and mediacoverage

Agency Evaluation:

Selection and evaluation of outside marketing contractors

Customer Database Management:

Software selection, training, maintenance of customer contactInformation

Market Research:

Market definition, prioritization, project management, datagathering

Pricing Analysis:

Pricing as a marketing tool…initiate and analyze competitor’spricing practices

Product Audits:

Establishment of a formal means to evaluate competitiveofferings

Public Relations:

Establishment, guidance and coordination of all areas of publicRelations

Trade Shows:

Definition, participation, prioritization and audit foreffectiveness of all trade shows

Product Promotions:

Strategy formulation, program composition, premium definition,all media coverage

Marketing Communications:

All printed / electronic communication: brochures, catalogs,price lists, case histories

Media Selection:

Assist in selection and prioritization of all media options:print, broadcast, multimedia

Internal Communications:

Establish and maintain all inter-company corporate communicationmeans

International Marketing:

Establish company presence in targeted international markets,audit for effectiveness

Strategic Planning:

Offer strategic information and alternative insights tocorporate management strategies

Board Meeting Participation:

Communicate and reinforce the company marketing priorities,strategies and tactics

Corporate Vision Statement:

Proliferate and reinforce the corporate vision throughout theOrganization

Corporate Identity and Image:

Create, maintain, improve and “manage” all corporate images andsymbols

To a “pure” marketer, the marketing role in a company is notjust a business function, but a business philosophy. Aneffective marketer truly believes “dominating” their targetmarket is “owning” their market. The more a marketer can do tomaintain market leadership the more effective they areperceived within the organization and within the industry.

As customer retention has become more of a business priority inour intensifying competitive markets, the marketing functionhas evolved from influencing potential customers to involvingthem the company’s business planning and advancement. Effectivemarketing also has blurred the distinction between product andservice and continues to apply more influence on the company’ssales representation priorities.

In conclusion, marketing and sales functions are deeply rootedin each other’s purpose and revenue growth intentions. Thereare few functional areas in business that relate more to eachother. So the next time you hear someone say the word “sales”,when the appropriate description would have been “marketing”,or vise versa, think of this article and choose from any one ofthese documented business functions to make your point ofdistinction!

About the Author:

Mark Smock is President of http://www.business-buyer-directory.com, theFIRST international business buyer directory of its kind.Business Buyer Directory provides a non-traditional means forproactive business buyers to locate businesses for saleworldwide that meet their exact registered purchase criteria.

Have you ever been in the position where you are getting, what you think to be, close to concluding the deal only to find your client comes up with objections?

Some would argue, as salespeople, we have not handled all the possible objections upfront, in other words we have not demonstrated our value proposition fully. However, in the real world objections at the last minute happen to all of us regardless of what we think we have done to conclude the deal.

What objection?

It is what we see as an objection and how we manage that objection that will give us the edge in closing the deal. I have been asked many times about how to handle objections and my initial stock answer is usually, “Have you fully demonstrated your value proposition to the client?” However, this does not serve a great deal of good if the salesperson feels inclined to think, “Of course I have.”

It may be true that the salesperson has indeed not identified some of these objections when going through the sales cycle, but that does not mean the end of the deal. The prospect is talking to us because they have a need and I would suggest that any objection is in fact an “Implied Need.”

Whilst the majority of objections are ‘Implications of Need,’ there are some that will be described as real; the ‘price objection’ and the ‘product objection’. These real objections are handled by reducing their impact with the value argument. Set them against the benefits that have been agreed already and their affect is minimised.

So, get into our minds that there are only two “real” objections behind why a prospect may not buy and you will find that any other objections can be handled – which will allow you to further demonstrate your value.

Prescriptive Reflex!

Many training courses promote the use of prescriptive reflex responses to the typical objections that a salesperson will encounter. Unfortunately such methods preclude us from seeing the objection as a positive contributor to the sale. As we have discussed,

objections are really needs in disguise and by using the ‘reflex statement’ we are in fact ignoring the prospect’s views and needs.

Before we go on, let me give you an example. Read the statement below and consider the reflex response from the salesperson.

Prospect; “Right now we do not have the resources internally to manage such a complicated solution.”Salesman; “If we could show you how easy it could be to make this possible would you buy from us.”

The prescriptive response from the salesperson will only harm the sales cycle. This is a wasted opportunity. There are real needs behind the prospect statement. In fact it is not an objection at all but a series of ‘implied needs’ which, if explored and developed, would enhance our chances of addressing all the customer’s requirements. Can you name all the “implied needs” in the prospect’s statement? Could you turn these “implied needs” into “benefit statements” which will help close our deal?

If you can’t see the implied needs, it does not mean you are bad at selling, it usually means that you may need to improve or hone your skills. Why not write down some of the “objections” you have encountered in the field over the last few months. Look at them and see if you can pull out the implied needs. If you want, email them to us and we will reply with the implied needs.

You could also read about BlueEskimo’s sales methodology, Real Value Selling©. It is all about the value proposition. This primarily describes the only reason, motivation or justification for an organisation or company to purchase any product or service. These values are also described as the ‘Buying Criteria’ – the reasons for choosing a particular product or supplier over another. These justifications are commercial and can only be described in financial terms, or the payback but not the price!

And if nothing else, next time you encounter an objection, remember it is only an implied need in disguise.

Kevin McLaren – Sales Trainer and business development

http://www.blueeskimo.com