The difference between getting a sale or losing it lies in the response or lack of it, that the sales person has to each event that takes place during a call. Every time I hear a salesperson say, ‘There was nothing that I could do, the customer had their mind made up.’ or ‘They were just shopping for the best price and we never win that game.’ I just shake my head and wonder what the salesperson think’s that their job actually is.

Don’t Be An Easy Mark

I also wonder how the buyer has sold the sale’s person on the incorrect notion that the price was the most important thing. After all, most people never buy anything at the lowest price. When you go out for dinner, wouldn’t it be cheaper to make it at home instead? How about when you do choose a restaurant? Do you always go to the most inexpensive place you can go? Don’t you ever treat yourself to a premium meal for an important occasion? Well, my friends, when you are on your sales call and the buyer is wanting to purchase a solution to their frustration, isn’t this an important occasion as well?

Changing The Mind – Essence Of Selling

The salesperson’s job is to see these situations and realize it is their job to change the mind or persuade the customer to see things a different way. If the salesperson cannot do this, then they have failed.

Understand that persuasion happens on every call. Either you have persuaded the buyer that you are the best solution or they have persuaded you that you are not the best solution.

The biggest failure is that the salesperson doesn’t even realize that given the same customer and the same situation but having a different salesperson with different responses, that they WOULD get the sale even with those obstacles in place.The assumption by the salesperson that they could have done nothing more to get this job, is the root of all problems that make salespeople eventually fail.

At Least Try It!

You must be dedicated to changing or ‘trying on’ new responses to situations where you normally fail. Doing the same thing and expecting a different result is the definition of madness. Dedicate yourself to this one principle today. CHANGE YOUR RESPONSE TO ACHIEVE THE RESULT YOU WANT.

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About the author: Joe Crisara is CEO of www.ContractorSelling.com a website that helps sales professionals to change their thinking and grow their sales. You can contact Joe by emailing him at joe@contractorselling.com

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Most times when sales people report the results of another lost opportunity to their sales manager they bring back more excuses, complaints and generalizations than they do real analysis of the situation. The next time your sales people start to sound like a “broken record” stop them in their tracks and ask them if they really think they made a good presentation.

How Do You Know If You Made a Good Presentation?

The presentation of solutions to your customers should serve a purpose in the sales process. Is your presentation hurting or helping you sell your service? The following should help you evaluate whether you are making a “good” presentation.

Here are some questions to ask your self about the role your presentation must play:

Does it create solutions that no one else has thought of?

Does it differentiate you from the pack?

Did you creates packages and bundles to make it easier to decide?

Did you give customers options for the way they want to purchase?

Did it use customer focused language or did you revert to industry jargon?

Did your unique solutions prove your expertise and creativity?

Did it make your prices seem fair and worth the investment?

Did it persuade your customers to take action after seeing it?

Does it use options as a negotiation point of reference?

Did it eliminate the desire for having to shop around with others?

Did it create status, quality and integrity in you and your company?

Did you present all of this to the right people at the right time?

Well, does your presentation cut the mustard? If not, then take a deep breath and go back to the drawing board. Your results don’t lie.

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About the author: Joe Crisara is CEO of www.ContractorSelling.com a website that helps sales professionals to change their thinking and grow their sales. You can contact Joe by emailing him at joe@contractorselling.com

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Here are a couple of questions you might want to consider if you are struggling with your sales results. You are guaranteed to increase your conversion rate if you incorporate the following questions and answers in your conversations with customers before that presentation.

Why You?

Ask your buyer to sell you on how they will benefit from purchasing what you sell. The more time you have spent finding out why they need your services, the it will be will be able to close later. Find out the pain of leaving things the way they currently are. What is the unique reason they feel they would benefit from your services?

Why Me?

Finding out why they think you are the one, (If they do.) that is best suited for them to purchase from is paramount in distancing your company from the competition. Positioning yourself as THE solution is never done by literature or even you telling people how great your company is.

Only your customer’s viewpoint about your company can give you the credibility you need to differentiate. Ask, “What can I learn from the other companies you have seen so far?” or “What have you heard about our company that makes you think we would be the answer?” Let them tell you how good you are, not the other way around.

Ask questions that get your customer to sell you and you will increase your sales at higher revenue and profit.

About the author: Joe Crisara is CEO of www.ContractorSelling.com a website that helps sales professionals to change their thinking and grow their sales. You can contact Joe by emailing him at joe@contractorselling.com

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Do you remember when the TV show “Seinfeld” was a huge hit on NBC’s “Must-See TV” every Thursday? I have probably watched every episode at least 2 or 3 times. The one episode that really stands out for me more than all the others is the episode called “Opposite George.”

Looking At the Truth Straight On

Basically, instead of always lying to himself about how good things were going in his life, he decided that he gotten to the miserable place he was now, by the actions that he had taken. He finally owned up to his failures.

The Decision To Make a Change

Upon this discovery he decided that from now on, in order to make his life change for the better, he would do EXACTLY the opposite of what he had always done his entire life. Up to this point, his life was typified by economic and personal struggles. He was a man that couldn’t keep a decent job and was also dismissed by every woman he approached as a schmuck.

He decided to break from the past by doing the EXACT opposite of what he normally would do to see if it would make a difference in his career. One memorable instance of his newfound approach was when he used the technique of “do the opposite” to land himself an executive job with the famed New York Yankees.

During the interview, instead of being in awe of George Steinbrenner, like everybody else probably is, he instead tells his potential new boss how his ego is out of control and that every decision he has made has been flat-out dumb. “Hire this man immediately!” Steinbrenner screams. “That’s the kind of attitude we need around here!”

So here’s my point. Every time George did the opposite of what he would
normally do, what logic and common sense would dictate, and what everybody else would probably do, he experienced “quantum leap, life changing success.”

You Must Change What Isn’t Working

You know what? In many ways this thinking is the key to being a successful sales manager.  It just makes sense that the best decision to make in order to turn around your results is the EXACT opposite of what you have always done, especially if you are struggling.

For instance, let’s say that a sales person who you work with is struggling with price objections. Every presentation that he has made recently has been met with a lower price from your competitor.

Let’s look at the different ways you could approach this situation.

The Way Most Sales Managers Would Do It

YOU: Hey Bob, I know you love working here at our company and I know it’s tough out there but you have to learn how to handle these price objections. I know you can do it if you just practice more. Why don’t we talk about some ways to overcome these?

THEM: No, I appreciate your offer Bill, but I’m swamped with work and family issues. Plus I’ve already tried everything.

The Way “Opposite George” Would Do It

YOU: Hey Bob, off the record can I ask you something? I’m surprised you still work here since you obviously think the quality and service of our company is the same as the competition but only our prices are higher. Have you completely given up on our company?

THEM: What are you talking about? I never said that! Our quality and service are way better than our competitors. I just need more help practicing overcoming objections. Hey Bill, do you have time to work with me on this? (Success at last – You have inspired your sales person to try improving by doing the opposite!)

The Paradigm Has Shifted

As you can see by this small exchange above, George was actually genius in his approach. Doing the opposite can make a big difference. Can you really argue with the simple truth that if you follow along and simply do what others who struggle are doing, you will get exactly what they are getting? Why not pull a “Costanza,” do something different?

There are businesses that are actually MORE profitable in this down economy as they pick through the bones of others who have failed. That’s right, after the dust has settled they now attract the ex-customer and ex-employees of those companies who are bleeding or who have fallen. Ultimately where there are problems there are opportunities.

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NOTE: Special thanks to my friend and chiropractic marketing genius Todd Brown for inspiring this article.

About the author: Joe Crisara is CEO of www.ContractorSelling.com a website that helps sales professionals to change their thinking and grow their sales. You can contact Joe by emailing him at joe@contractorselling.com

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I have always said that if I wanted to do something terrible to my worst enemy it would be to put them in a business where they had to manage people that have to sell their services and products without any training. That would certainly make anyone miserable for the rest of their lives. Yes, the sales professional of today has never had it harder.

Not For the Faint Of Heart

Managing the sales performance of a business and its’ greatest asset, their employees, is one of the most challenging and un-rewarding jobs that anyone could ever wish on a person. That is, if that person is left untrained and un-empowered to be successful. The biggest problem stems from the vast amount of things that happen on a day-to-day basis that come at you from the side. The average “civilian” wouldn’t know where to begin to deal with this kind of stress.

However, the job is much easier when you consider a basic principle of management. What is this magic principle that will make it so easy? Simply put, it is not your job as a manager to do the work. It is your job to inspire others how to do it and then coach them to maintain the skills necessary to continue to have predictable success in the future..

Do Your Job Not Theirs

I know this seems completely obvious to so many, but it is embraced by so few. Many of today’s sales managers have been elevated from a sales position themselves. Knowing what to do, they work too hard to “try and set an example” of how they want things done. They do this by jumping in and actually doing the frontline work. The mystified employee just sits back and watches the manager do their job and then becomes a de-motivated “paid audience.”

When management steps in to do a frontline employees job, it devalues the frontline employee and lowers their esteem. The business is then left with a deflated frontline employee who lacks confidence in their ability to sell to your customer. Not a pretty picture and certainly not your vision of the powerful frontline sales champion you are hoping to develop.

Create Sales Stars, Don’t Be One

You will never be able to implement new ideas that will grow or even maintain the sales revenue you want to achieve.  They should be able to sell at least as good if not better than you do as well. How will this happen? It is only possible if you stop doing the work and start expecting them to take over and get the results you expect. This is TRUE empowerment for any employee.

Some Cautionary Advice

Don’t expect everything to be done as you would. Just stay with the principles that you embrace when coaching them. After turning them loose, you might be surprised that their results are actually better than you achieved. When you are comfortable that they are achieving the results you are lloking for then take you new found free time to teach your employees how to master these systems even better.

Coach first and then turn them loose - It is malpractice to just have your employees “just figure it out.” Be clear as to how you see them doing their work and the strategy your team is trying to implement. Don’t just talk or preach to them. Listen first then ask them what they think they are missing. Only then should you provide the information they need.

Mistakes WILL happen - Mistakes will show you their level of understanding and mastery of the skills you are teaching. Mistakes are a gift in that they give you things to work on immediately. As a coach it is your job not to fix mistakes but instead show THEM how to. If nothing else it provides for great subjects for future sales training.

Think of yourself as a coach - No matter how bad the game is going, the coach never runs on to the field and starts to play. If things are not going as expected then make your game time adjustments and then send the players back on the field to try again with the new approach. Be aware that even the coach makes mistakes.

Use this information to become a better sales manager and to make your life easier. You will start to develop a leadership style that will inspire your employees to respect, honor and trust you. Your employees will then achieve a mastery that you never imagined would be possible.

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About the author: Joe Crisara is CEO of www.ContractorSelling.com a website that helps sales professionals to change their thinking and grow their sales. You can contact Joe by emailing him at joe@contractorselling.com

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Pro football running back Ricky Watters had an amazing career.  He accumulated over 10,000 rushing yards and over 4,000 receiving yards for the San Francisco 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles, and Seattle Seahawks.  He caught 5 touchdown passes for the 49ers in a single NFL playoff game, which is a league record, and caught three TD passes for the 49ers in the 1995 Super Bowl. 

Watters was an amazing playmaker on the field, but off the field his mouth was his own worst enemy.

In a game Watters played as a member of the Eagles, his team was down by three touchdowns late in the game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  Watters was open for a long pass in the middle of the field, and his quarterback threw it to him.  In uncharacteristic fashion, however, Watters seemed to purposefully give up on trying to catch the pass, ostensibly because a defender was coming at him with a full head of steam. 

When asked about the pass in a post-game interview, Watters was matter-of-fact about the incompletion.  Why didn’t he extend his body to try to catch it?  His famous answer was, “For who?  For what?” 

The fans were livid, thinking that Watters had given up on his team — which he had. 

As a manager, you may have someone on your sales team that may be acting just like Ricky Watters did.  They’re not taking it for the team.  They’ve lost the will to fight for the cause.  Maybe they don’t believe in what’s going on in the company, or they’ve lost that initial spark of enthusiasm for the job.  Maybe they’ve lost respect for the top layers of the organization — or maybe they’ve lost respect for you — and they may be asking themselves, “For who?”  and “For what?” 

You’re the coach.  What are you going to do about it?

Your responsibility to the entire team is to keep an eye out for these individuals, and take swift action to correct the situation.  The longer you wait, the more respect you lose from your team by allowing it to linger. 

What should you do?  There are several options.  Begin by taking the individual aside and let them know that you’ve been observing some things that have concerned you.  Ask for them to be honest with you about what’s going on.  If they choose not to say anything, observe them more closely for a short period of time, and if no changes occur, meet again and reiterate what you’re witnessing, with a plan of corrective action.  If they’re honest with you and let you have it between the eyes, don’t reach harshly.  You asked for feedback, so you can’t be angry for getting what you ask for!  Take it under advisement, and re-address it in a day or two.  Don’t let your emotions get the best of you, especially with your sales team. 

Your team deserves to play under the very best of conditions, including their co-workers.  It may be too late for Ricky Watters, but it’s not too late for you. 
– Bill Guertin is CEO (Chief Enthusiasm Officer) of The 800-Pound Gorilla, a sales performance improvement company based in suburban Chicago, IL whose list of clients includes professional sports teams in the NBA, NFL, NHL, Major League Baseball, and Major League Soccer.  Learn more about Bill at www.The800PoundGorilla.com, or follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/800poundgorilla.

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What do your salespeople know to do when something goes wrong?   As a manager, is it your “policy” to get involved in every act of service recovery with a client, or do you allow your people to think on their own? 

I had a situation on one of my Webinars this week where two people had very bad experiences — technical stuff that was totally out of my control. Both were brand new clients, and I made an awful first impression.  They were both angry at first, each sending me not-so-nicely-worded E-mails about how much trouble they went through to get their staffs together, etc.   It was NOT a pretty picture.

Since I’m in charge, I had the authority to make good on the situation.  I immediately contacted each of them, told them they’d be getting their money back, AND that I’d be doing the very same program for them 1-on-1 via conference call at no charge, at a time that suited THEM best. 
 
Both were very grateful, commented about the speed to which I addressed the problem (within the hour!), and were willing to overlook the issues that happened. They’re both rescheduled now for individual times, and are looking forward to it.

Yes, I’m going to be out some additional time on my part, and for something that was completely out of my control.  I’m willing to sacrifice that for the sake of a client relationship.  Without the ability to react immediately, I would have lost that window of opportunity to actually “Wow” someone with my response.  

If your salespeople have to run back to get your approval before they can offer restitution, it may be too late to make the very best impression.   When your people make mistakes — which they will! – give them the authority to make it right, to whatever limits are appropriate.  You hired them for their ability to represent you well; make sure they’re trained to represent you correctly when things aren’t so well. 

  – Bill Guertin is CEO (Chief Enthusiasm Officer) of The 800-Pound Gorilla, a sales performance improvement company based in suburban Chicago, IL whose list of clients includes professional sports teams in the NBA, NFL, NHL, Major League Baseball, and Major League Soccer.  Learn more about Bill at www.The800PoundGorilla.com, or follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/800poundgorilla.

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I’m in a love/hate relationship with Twitter (www.twitter.com).

On the one hand, it’s one of the most time-sucking technological vortexes ever invented.  Great gobs of hours are being expended communicating in 140 characters or less to whomever will listen, and reading one message is like eating a single potato chip.

On the other hand, I get the most relevant, current news tidbits of my entire day from the people I’m following on Twitter. 

I would not have said this six months ago, but I now believe Twitter should be a daily regimen for those who manage younger salespeople.  If you look beyond the network marketing invitations and mindless blatherers, there are very relevant and interesting exchanges happening on Twitter, which makes it worth your while as a manager to get to know it.

And, since most young people are seriously into it, you’ll stay up on what’s going on in their world. 

One word of caution: Choose your friends wisely.  Anyone that tweets about their morning workout regimen, what they’re having for lunch, or what store they just shopped at are probably not the kind of friends you want.  If you have the right kinds of friends from your industry, I believe about 20 minutes a day on Twitter will keep you relevant, informed, and topical.  Any more than that, and you’ll start down rabbit holes that lead to endless paths of wasted time.  (If you’d like to know who I’m following, just send me an E-mail at bill@The800PoundGorilla.com and I’ll send you my favorites.)

If you haven’t been there, you owe it to yourself to at least check it out.   

  – Bill Guertin is CEO (Chief Enthusiasm Officer) of The 800-Pound Gorilla, a sales performance improvement company based in suburban Chicago, IL whose list of clients includes professional sports teams in the NBA, NFL, NHL, Major League Baseball, and Major League Soccer.  Learn more about Bill at www.The800PoundGorilla.com, or follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/800poundgorilla.

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G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936) was a prolific English author who published some 100 books between 1900 and 1936.   Those who know his works would call Chesterton the greatest writer of the 20th century.  Not only was he great at expressing himself, he actually had something good to express in all that he did as an essayist, poet, theologian, historian, critic, and philosopher.

During the height of his career, a popular magazine sent Chesterton a request to write an essay to a single question — one that would be answered by several of the best minds of the day, and to be published in the magazine.  The question was: What is wrong with the world today?

Chesterton’s essay was a two-word submission:  “I am.”

I believe there’s a lesson for sales managers in Chesterton’s observation. 

All too often, when we’re not hitting our sales targets, we believe the problem lies within our sales staff, our product mix, the competition, or any of the factors in which we have less than 100% control.   

The problem with most sales managers not hitting their targets is not external.  It’s internal.

Focus on that over which you have 100% control first — yourself — and look inside to see where the deficit might lie.  Is it learning to better encourage your staff in the face of rejection?  Better hiring practices?  More one-on-one training and discussion?  An incentive plan that better rewards the behaviors you need?  A fresher approach to sales meetings?  These and many more are all things that you can control, and can improve to benefit yourself and those around you.

There are plenty of things that are wrong with the world, including our own.  Improving our world starts with the realization of where improvement must begin.  

[And if you're one of those that's resistant to change, you might want to start here.]

   – Bill Guertin is CEO (Chief Enthusiasm Officer) of The 800-Pound Gorilla, a sales performance improvement company based in suburban Chicago, IL whose list of clients includes professional sports teams in the NBA, NFL, NHL, Major League Baseball, and Major League Soccer.  Learn more about Bill at www.The800PoundGorilla.com, or follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com.  

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There I was, enjoying an exciting NBA basketball game in Miami between the Heat and the visiting New Orleans Hornets.  The game had playoff implications, and so the building was electric.  There were spectacular plays, great moves, terrific blocked shots and athletic dunks back and forth all night long. 

The only thing bothering me was the kid sitting next to me.

I’d guess his age at about 13 or 14, a prodigy from one of the wealthier Miami suburbs, it appeared.  He looked like a Nick, so that’s what I’ll call him.  He was there with his father, who sat there mostly silent throughout the game, and his little brother, Chip (off the old block), who was maybe 8 or 9, and mostly silent as well.

Throughout the game, Nick constantly belittled each of the players and their obvious lack of talent, skill, and brains.  An errant pass from the home team was tipped and stolen by the Hornets’ star, Chris Paul, who streaked down the court for a lay-up — an amazing display of reflexes, speed, and talent.  “What a stupid pass!” Nick said to Chip in disgust.  “Anybody could’ve stolen that!  What a moron!” 

I resisted the temptation to say something about an appreciation for the astounding play of Chris Paul, but I bit my tongue.  My tongue would be a bloody stump by the time the night was over.

A fantastic blocked shot by Jermaine O’Neal was greeted by: “Why didn’t he get there sooner?”  Two quick three-point baskets in a row by the home team, and Nick’s reply: “What is that, two out of thirteen?” 

It got so bad at one point that I got out my Palm phone and started typing the things he was saying, so I would have record of them.  Here are a few of the actual comments from Nick as they were spewing out and I was capturing them:

“Pathetic!”

“Can’t anybody rebound?  The midget (Chris Paul) gets it every time!”

“How hard can it be to cover him?”

“How could he miss that?  Idiot!”

“He can’t dribble. Give it to somebody else.”

“Why is he even on the floor at all?”

“Wow… we’re actually winning.  I don’t believe it.”

With several minutes to go, I decided that I would enjoy the rest of the game in another spot.  It was a good thing, too; the visiting team tied the game with an amazing last-second long shot to put it into overtime, and I’m sure Nick had a few choice comments about that play as well.   

The game was fabulous.  The only thing that was pathetic was being in the presence of Negative Nick.   

Do you have a “Nick” in your work life?

If you have someone in your office or workplace that constantly pollutes with negativity, consider the damage it’s doing to your staff, your productivity, and your profits — then decide to take action in a positive way for the benefit of the others that are affected.  Chances are that if you’re noticing it as a manager, several others noticed it long before you did. 

The NBA can’t do much about Nick.  But I do have great expectations of you.  And so do your people.    

 – Bill Guertin is CEO (Chief Enthusiasm Officer) of The 800-Pound Gorilla, a sales performance improvement company based in suburban Chicago, IL whose list of clients includes professional sports teams in the NBA, NFL, NHL, Major League Baseball, and Major League Soccer.  Learn more about Bill at www.The800PoundGorilla.com, or follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com.

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