The Lava Bot

A few days ago I was thinking about my business, doing some calculations.

If I gather twenty business cards and call them all, I should be able to get ten on the line, and of the ten, I should be able to set three appointments.

From the three, I should close one.

So, it should take twenty prospects to close one deal, I told myself.

This exercise is called, doing the math of success, and every experienced salesperson does at least a version of it.

But there is a sneaky, insidious word, smack in the middle of this thought flow:

“Should.”

Should isn’t a factual term, and you won’t find it in a text on logic, either. Mathematics doesn’t speak in terms of should, and salespeople are to be cautioned about it’s misuse, as well.

Should is actually a normative word, a moralistic term, as in, all good children should say please and thank-you, or I really should change my oil next week. Should pertains to desirable and undesirable, good and bad, right and wrong.

The problem in telling ourselves that we should earn one sale from calling a list of twenty prospects is it sets up an expectation that is more than a probability. If we miss, and we don’t get one, we tell ourselves something is wrong.

This adds an unnecessary “charge” to our experience, a form of condemnation. Good salespeople, or at least competent ones, we tell ourselves, should get one in twenty.

But what if you get one in forty? What, then?

Are you cursed, in a slump, or a lousy salesperson?

All we know, factually, is it takes you 40 to get one, so for each sale you want to close, put 40 prospects into the calling cue.

That’s reality, and “should” has nothing to do with it!

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, “The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable,” published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC’s Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.

Filed by admin at 7:18 pm under Sales Hall
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Remember the first time you walked into your sales office? How did it FEEL to you? Was it buzzing, energetic and upbeat? Did you sense a spirit of positive competitiveness?

Or, did you notice that the air had a weight of negativity to it? Did you suspect a lack of joy or camaraderie? Maybe you recognized that the positive vibrations were simply missing.

That’s the power daily feedback can have. If it’s being done constructively, it can affect the very “energy” of a sales office.

Daily feedback and improvement is all about developing the right culture. And professional selling has its own common language and culture. We use terms like “hourly rate,” “definition of insanity,” “circle back around,” “lay the obvious on the table,” “soup to nuts” and “who’s got the ‘R’.”

So, how do you give daily feedback?

Simple. You spend 5 minutes with a manager/leader.

FOR 5 MINUTES, you use strategies and tactics to evaluate your status. You promote the “right” feeling in the atmosphere. Using common language buzzwords, you talk about accountability to results. And when results are not there? You REFRAIN from finger pointing!

It’s celebrating “wins” aloud, but coaching through all the bases that must be covered.

It’s congratulating the close of a sale, but asking if the proper steps were taken at the point of sale.

And why do we ask this question? It’s because the proper steps are essential. They leverage more revenue, more testimonial letters and more referrals. In short, they improve the entire sales process.

Management must understand the strategic use of the office door. KEEP IT OPEN!

Daily feedback focuses on Daily Routines. Daily Routines, properly performed, WILL achieve weekly goals.

And weekly goals, routinely achieved, WILL maintain monthly results. Focusing on what’s wrong or how to lay blame just doesn’t “cut it.”

Jeff Hardesty is President of JDH Group, Inc. and the Developer of the X2 Sales System®, a blended training system that teaches sales professionals the competency of setting C-level business appointments.
Jeff has been featured in numerous National publications such as Business First, Dartnell’s SELL!NG , Chief Learning Officer and Training Magazine with reference to Blended Learning Systems and improving sales teams Key Performance Indicators.

He travels the country conducting live X2 ‘Boot Camps’ and Train-the-trainer sessions helping sales organizations get more reps to Quota in less time, shorten new-hire ‘Ramp-to-Quota’ and eliminate Turnover costs due to low sales activity.
Jeff can be reached at jeff@convertmoresales.com.
To view a complimentary suite of sales training ROI calculators and determine your sales team’s Key Performance Indicators in line with your sales objectives visit http://convertmoresales.com/roi_calculators.php.

Filed by admin at 10:56 pm under Sales Hall
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Have you even watched some sales people as they sell and you think to yourself they do not appear to be selling anything at all? Sure, they are a salesperson or account executive or whatever their fancy title for sales person says on their business card. They certainly are not hiding anything, they are selling and everyone knows it.

The prospect and potential customer and anyone else who is watching; yet they seem so smooth you wonder what are they doing and how are they so good at it? Well, they doing what I call selling without selling. Instead of what we think of when we hear the word selling, they are doing something totally different.

They are not doing most of the talking, they are not telling the customer to buy this or that or the other thing, no, instead they are selling, but without really selling you see? They are discussing with the potential customer or client their needs, interests and desires. They are engaging the prospect and customer in objections, likes and dislikes of the product or service.

They are developing rapport with client and making sure that what they are selling can do the trick for them. No on the surface it does not look like selling does it and perhaps this is why they make so many sales and still find it in them to walk away without remorse when the product or service that they are selling is not a good fit. I sincerely hope you will consider this in 2006.

Filed by admin at 2:53 am under Sales Hall
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