Mastering the World of Selling E-Book

Eric Taylor

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 678

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

Of the 17 million people in the U.S. who are involved directly or indirectly in sales, many repeatedly acknowledge facing four major challenges: * No prior sales education or training * Lack of formalized sales training, resources, and methodologies provided by their companies * Due to the recession and downsizing era, lack of 12-18 month professional sales training for new hires provided by Fortune 500 companies * A consistent struggle to keep their sales force, distributors, manufacturers reps and affiliates motivated and focused on effectively selling their products and services Mastering the World of Selling helps companies and entrepreneurs overcome these four major obstacles with candid advice and winning strategies from the leading sales trainers and training companies in the world: Acclivus*AchieveGlobal*Action Selling*Tony Allesandra*Brian Azar*Baker Communications, Inc.*Mike Bosworth*Ian Brodie*Ed Brodow*Mike Brooks*Bob Burg*Jim Cathcart*Robert Cialdini PhD*Communispond, Inc.*Tim Connor*CustomerCentric Selling*Dale Carnegie*Sam Deep*Bryan Dodge*Barry Farber*Jonathan Farrington*Jeffrey Fox*Colleen Francis*FranklinCovey Sales Performance Solutions*Thomas A. Freese*Patricia Fripp*Ari Galper*General Physics Corporation*Jeffrey Gitomer*Charles H. Green*Ford Harding*Holden International*Chet Holmes*Tom Hopkins*Huthwaite, Inc.*Imparta, Ltd.*InfoMentis, Inc.*Integrity Solutions*Janek Performance Group, Inc.*Tony Jeary*Dave Kahle*Ron Karr*Knowledge-Advantage, Inc.*Jill Konrath*Dave Kurlan*Ron LaVine*Kendra Lee*Ray Leone*Chris Lytle*Paul McCord*Mercuri International*Miller Heiman, Inc.*Anne Miller*Dr. Ivan Misner*Michael Macedonio*Sharon Drew Morgen*Napoleon Hill Foundation*Michael Oliver*Rick Page*Anthony Parinello*Michael Port*Porter Henry*Prime Resource Group, Inc.*Neil Rackham*Revenue Storm*Linda Richardson*Keith Rosen*Frank Rumbauskas*Sales Performance International, Inc.*Sandler Training*Dr. Tom Sant*Stephan Schiffman*Dan Seidman*Blair Singer*Terri Sjodin*Art Sobczak*Drew Stevens, PhD*STI International*The Brooks Group*The Friedman Group*The TAS Group*Brian Tracy*ValueSelling Associates*Wendy Weiss&*Jacques Werth*Floyd Wickman*Wilson Learning*Dirk Zeller*Tom Ziglar*Zig Ziglar

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Foreword

Introduction

Your Past and Present Hold the Key to Your Future

Chapter 1 - Collaboration

Chapter 2 - Living Your Vows in a Whirlwind Economy

• FIND THE RIGHT CUSTOMERS

• DEFINE A RELATIONSHIP PROCESS

• BUILD A WELCOMING HOME

• LEARN FROM EACH OTHER

• TO HAVE AND TO HOLD

Chapter 3 - Ninety Percent of All Sales Force Training Fails

• SALES TRAINING’S DIRTY LITTLE SECRET

• BUT YOU STILL NEED TO PROVIDE TRAINING

• WHY DOES SALES TRAINING FAIL?

• LOTS OF TALK AND FAILED ATTEMPTS

• THE VISION FOR EFFECTIVE SALES TRAINING

Chapter 4 - Eleven Telephone Tips to Effectively Reach Out and Touch Others

Chapter 5 - The “At-Leaster” Phenomenon

• THE COMFORT ZONE

• REVERSING THE IMAGE

Chapter 6 - Confronting the CRM Challenge

Chapter 7 - Rethinking Sales Success

Chapter 8 - Selling for the Independent Professional

• DEVELOPING A POSITIVE MIND-SET

• BECOMING SKILLED AT A SALES METHODOLOGY

• GROW THE CONFIDENCE AND CAPABILITY TO CLOSE

• MY ONE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE

Chapter 9 - Ten Tips for Convincing the Buyer to Pay More

Chapter 10 - How to Sell a Pencil—and Your Product or Service

Chapter 11 - Cultivating Endless Referrals

Chapter 12 - Twenty-One Ways to Increase Sales This Year

Chapter 13 - The Psychology of Persuasion

Chapter 14 - The Virtual Presentation

• APPLYING THE FUNDAMENTALS

• ASSUME YOUR AUDIENCE IS BORED AND DISTRACTED

• IDENTIFY YOUR GOAL AND SCOPE OUT YOUR AUDIENCE

• WHAT’S THE TWAIN/POE RULE?

• PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE

• READY OR NOT, HERE IT IS

Chapter 15 - Do You Have an Effective Closing Strategy?

• ARE YOU ASKING YOURSELF ENOUGH OF THE RIGHT QUESTIONS?

Chapter 16 - Sales Manager or Administrator?

• AVOIDING TRAIN WRECKS

• REMOVING THE ROSE-COLORED GLASSES

• SPRING CLEANING

• QUALITY OF ACTIVITY

• AVOID THE RFP TRAP

• PROACTIVE SALES MANAGEMENT

Chapter 17 - Uncover Sales Opportunities

• OPPORTUNITY CHART

• REFERRALS AND CENTERS OF INFLUENCE

• CHAMPIONS

• NETWORKING

Chapter 18 - How Can I Wow the Audience When Speaking?

Chapter 19 - The Good Life Rules

Chapter 20 - Five Traits of a Great Sales Leader

Chapter 21 - Reconstructing the Pieces of the Sales Puzzle

• BUSINESS CONSULTANT

• STRATEGIC ORCHESTRATOR

• LONG-TERM ALLY

Chapter 22 - Manage Salespeople as You Would Invest

Chapter 23 - The Amazing Power of Testimonials

• KEEP YOUR EARS OPEN WIDE

• ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE

• NEWER CUSTOMERS ARE PASSIONATE

• REPEAT CUSTOMERS ARE WISE AND INSIGHTFUL

• MAKE IT EASY FOR PEOPLE

• DO UNTO OTHERS

• MAKE TESTIMONIALS NOTICEABLE

Chapter 24 - Want More Sales? Stop “Selling” and Start Helping Clients Succeed

• THE REASONS PEOPLE BUY

• INTENT COUNTS MORE THAN TECHNIQUE

Chapter 25 - Your Next Job Interview

Chapter 26 - Nine Biggest Mistakes Salespeople Make in Their Presentations

Chapter 27 - Seven Cold-Calling Secrets Even the Sales Gurus Don’t Know

Chapter 28 - Learn More, Sell More

Chapter 29 - Are You a Sales Rock Star, or Just a Member of the Band?

Chapter 30 - Selling Professional Services

• HOW THINGS REALLY WORK

• TRADITIONAL SALES MODELS

• THE ALTERNATIVE: TRUST-BASED SELLING

• TRUST AND SALES

Chapter 31 - Dealing with Unreturned Phone Calls

Chapter 32 - Engaging and Defeating Competition

Chapter 33 - How to Double Sales in 12 Months Flat

• THE BEST BUYER CONCEPT

• LESSONS FOR YOU

Chapter 34 - Developing the Thank-You Note Habit

Chapter 35 - Escaping the Price-Driven Sale Selling to Clients at a Premium

• WHERE THIS NEW DEFINITION OF VALUE CAME FROM

• THE FOUR VALUE DRIVERS

• HOW IT’S DONE

• PART TWO: YOU GOTTA KNOW WHERE THE BUYER IS

• CONCLUSION

Chapter 36 - Creating Client Value

• EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• AWARENESS OF NEEDS

• ASSESSMENT OF ALTERNATIVES

• ALLEVIATION OF RISK

• DECISION

• ACHIEVEMENT OF RESULTS

• CHANNEL VERSUS DIRECT

• TAILORING THE APPROACH

Chapter 37 - Selling through the Eye of the Buyer

• TECHNOLOGY IS OUR CUSTOMER’S FRIEND (AND OURS, TOO, IF WE USE IT)

• KNOCK DOWN THE WALLS BETWEEN MARKETING AND SALES

• QUIT WASTING MONEY ON BROCHURES—WHO NEEDS ’EM?

• YOUR SALES PROCESS DOESN’T MATTER

• “SUCCESS” IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN “SOLUTIONS”

• GET BEYOND YOUR CRM

Chapter 38 - Building a Bridge between Service and Selling

• SERVICE VERSUS SELLING

• TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGE

• COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

Chapter 39 - Developing and Implementing a Structured Sales Process

• WHY HAVE A STRUCTURED SALES PROCESS?

• DEVELOPING A STRUCTURED SALES PROCESS

• IMPLEMENTING A STRUCTURED SALES PROCESS

Chapter 40 - How to Present with Mastery, So People Take Action

Chapter 41 - Biggest Time Wasters for Salespeople

• ALLURE OF THE URGENT/TRIVIAL

• THE COMFORT OF THE STATUS QUO

• LACK OF TRUST IN OTHER PEOPLE IN THE ORGANIZATION

• LACK OF TOUGH-MINDED THOUGHTFULNESS

Chapter 42 - The Key to Growing Your Sales

Chapter 43 - How, What, and Why Projects Fail

• HOW PROJECTS FAIL

• WHATPROJECTS FAIL

• WHY PROJECTS FAIL

Chapter 44 - Making a Difference

• FINDING THE DIFFERENCE

• QUANTIFY THE DIFFERENCE

Chapter 45 - How to Overachieve

Chapter 46 - How to Make Successful Cold Calls

• STEP 1: ESTABLISH CALL OBJECTIVES

• STEP 2: FIND THE DECISION MAKER(S) FIRST

• STEP 3: ASK FOR PERMISSION TO SPEAK

• STEP 4: USE DIRECT, OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS

• STEP 5: SUMMARIZE YOUR CONVERSATION

• SUMMARY

Chapter 47 - Create E-Mail Subject Lines That Draw Prospects In

Chapter 48 - The Sales Funnel

Chapter 49 - Having a “Great Meeting” Is Not the Objective

Chapter 50 - “Referrals” Are a Waste—Introductions Are Golden

Chapter 51 - Increasing Sales Quickly

Chapter 52 - Seven Myths and Misconceptions about Top-Performing Salespeople

Chapter 53 - Magic Moments in Selling

• THE FIRST TWO MINUTES

• MASTER THIS CRITICAL MAGIC MOMENT

Chapter 54 - Truth or Delusion

Chapter 55 - Buying Decisions

• WHEN DO BUYERS START FIGURING OUT HOW TO BUY?

• HOW SALES FAIL

Chapter 56 - Your “Needs” May Not Be Your “Rights”

Chapter 57 - The Real Secret to Effectively Enrolling and Selling

• ASKING QUESTIONS IS THE KEY TO SUCCESSFUL ENROLLING AND SELLING

• THE PURPOSE OF YOUR BUSINESS

• THE REAL PURPOSE OF A BUSINESS

• THINKING DIFFERENTLY

Chapter 58 - Qualifying Your Sales Process

Chapter 59 - Selling to VITOs (Very Important Top Officers)

• VITO CREATES EVERY IMPORTANT INITIATIVE

• CONSTANT IMPROVEMENT IS VITO’S RESPONSIBILITY

• VITO OWNS ALL BUDGETS

• VITO KNOWS WHO’S WHO

• VITO DEFINES THE CRITICAL BUSINESS CRITERIA

• VITO GETS PAID TO MAKE DECISIONS

Chapter 60 - The “Book Yourself Solid” Simple Selling System

Chapter 61 - Managing Sales Success

• BENEFITS OF A MANAGING SALES PERFORMANCE SYSTEM

• OVERVIEW OF THE SALES PERFORMANCE SYSTEM

• COMMUNICATE/MONITOR CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

• IDENTIFY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (GAINS/GAPS)

• DETERMINE CAUSES

• TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTIONS

• IMPLEMENTING THE MANAGING SALES PERFORMANCE SYSTEM

Chapter 62 - Value Clarity

• DIAGNOSING COMPLEX PROBLEMS TO ACHIEVE VALUE CLARITY

Chapter 63 - Selling in Harder Times

• WORKING HARDER ISN’T AN ANSWER

• THE “BETTER” BUTTON

• A QUESTION OF CONFIDENCE

Chapter 64 - Advanced Questioning Techniques

• LISTENING MODES

• CLASSIFICATION LIST OF QUESTIONS

• THE FOUR-STEP FLOW OF A CONSULTATIVE DISCUSSION

• MORE QUESTIONING TIPS

Chapter 65 - Sales Coaching Increases Sales Performance

Chapter 66 - Mismanaging Expectations

Chapter 67 - Use Social Dynamics to Control Sales Appointments

Chapter 68 - The Successful Sales Formula

• THE BIGGEST MYTH OF QUALIFICATION

• THE SUCCESSFUL SALES FORMULA

• THE SALES FORMULA ADDS VALUE FOR THE CUSTOMER

Chapter 69 - The Up-Front Contract

Chapter 70 - How to Write a Winning Proposal

• WHY DO CUSTOMERS WANT PROPOSALS?

• WHAT GOES INTO A WINNING PROPOSAL?

Chapter 71 - The 11 Biggest Sales Lies

Chapter 72 - One Great Opening Is Worth 10,000 Closes

• FOOT-IN-MOUTH KILLS SALESMAN

• POSTMORTEM

Chapter 74 - What Are the Biggest Sales Presentation Mistakes That ...

Chapter 75 - It’s Not a Numbers Game, It’s a Game of Numbers

Chapter 76 - Optimizing Sales Leads

• CONTENT IS KING

• MOM ALWAYS LIKED YOU BEST

• TECHNOLOGY FOR TECHNOLOGY’S SAKE

• ANALYSIS, NOT PARALYSIS

• NO PAIN, NO GAIN

Chapter 77 - Unmanaged, Telling Tensions Cost You Sales

• TELLING TENSION: THE COMPELLING NEED TO TALK

• CONCLUSION

Chapter 78 - Twelve Things Your Buyers Want Other Than Lowest Price

Chapter 79 - No Thanks, I’m Just Looking!

• THE PRIMARY GOAL OF OPENING THE SALE IS TO GET PAST RESISTANCE

• ESTABLISH A PERSON-TO-PERSON RELATIONSHIP RATHER THAN A SALESPERSON-TO-CUSTOMER-RELATIONSHIP

• OPENING LINES

• OPENING LINES MUST HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH BUSINESS

• THE MERCHANDISE APPROACH IS INEFFECTIVE AND RUDE

• OPENING LINES SHOULD BE QUESTIONS TO ENCOURAGE CONVERSATION

Chapter 80 - The Keys to Successful Pipeline Management

• BEST PRACTICE #1: MAP THE PIPELINE STRUCTURE TO A SALES PROCESS

• BEST PRACTICE #2: KEEP THE FUNNEL FULL

• BEST PRACTICE #3: ROCKS AND STONES AND PEBBLES

• BEST PRACTICE #4: KNOW HOW MUCH YOU NEED IN THE FUNNEL

• SUMMARY

Chapter 81 - Superior Sales Management

• THE PIVOTAL ROLE IN THE SALES TEAM

• THE KEY TO SALES SUCCESS

Chapter 82 - Jump-Starting a Stalled Sales Opportunity

Chapter 83 - All Salespeople Use Scripts

Chapter 84 - Top 10 Reasons Sales Managers Fail and What to Do about It

Chapter 85 - Become the Duke or Duchess of Dialogue

Chapter 86 - Is Your Customer Base at Risk?

• WHAT ARE THEY BUYING AND WHY?

• STRATEGIES FOR PROTECTING YOUR BASE

Chapter 87 - Become a Champion Performer

Chapter 88 - Timeless Truths in a 2.0 Sales World

• OWNERSHIP

• INTEGRITY

• AMPLIFICATION

Chapter 89 - Your Best Sales Year Ever!

• CHALLENGE #1: EVALUATE YOURPERSONAL ENERGY

• CHALLENGE #2: EVALUATE YOUR SELF-BELIEF

• CHALLENGE #3: EVALUATE YOUR GOALS

• CHALLENGE #4: EVALUATE YOUR TIME

• CHALLENGE #5: EVALUATE HOW YOU COMMUNICATE

Chapter 90 - More World-Class Sales Training Resources

• ONLINE SALES TRAINING RESOURCES

About the Authors

INDEX

Copyright © 2010 by Eric Taylor and David Riklan. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923,

[phone], fax [phone], or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, [phone], fax [phone], or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

For general information on our other products and services or for technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at [phone], outside the United States at [phone] or fax [phone].

Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. For more information about Wiley products, visit our web site at www.wiley.com.

ISBN 978-0-470-61786-1 (paper) ISBN 978-0-470-65106-3 (ebk) ISBN 978-0-470-65149-0 (ebk) ISBN 978-0-470-65150-6 (ebk)

This book is dedicated to our families: our wives, Michelle Riklan and Clare Taylor, and our eight wonderful children, Joshua, Jonathan, Rachel, Kelly, Mark, Zachary, Luke, and Jake.

Acknowledgments

Each and every one of us wants to increase sales and revenue for our associated business. In our journey toward optimum sales results, we frequently find that reaching our goals is a team effort. We rely on others to provide quality products for us to sell, enhanced by attractive marketing materials and superior customer support.

Similarly, the writing of this book was also a group effort. This book was truly created by a dedicated team that spent countless hours writing, revising, and updating. It could not have been created alone.

We’d like to acknowledge each and every author who contributed to this book—in fact, there would be no book without the inspiring wisdom and words of each of our contributing authors.

In addition to all of the contributors to the book, we would like to thank all of the amazing individuals at John Wiley & Sons, Inc., who enthusiastically brought this project to life, including Matt Holt, Shannon Vargo, Beth Zipko, and Lauren Freestone.

Thanks to our agent, John Willig, who is the real “Jerry Maguire.”

Finally, heartfelt thanks to our friends and family, who have provided much-needed support, encouragement, and patience throughout the process. A special thanks to our wives, Michelle and Clare, who are a continual source of motivation for everything that we do.

Foreword

I have been a student of sales since November 11, 1971. I was listening to a brand-new technology called a cassette tape when a guy named Jay Douglas Edwards uttered the sales tip, “If the customer says, ‘Do these come in green?’ you say, ‘Would you like them in green?”’ And I thought—cool.

That’s the day I realized that there was a science to selling. I wanted to learn more.

I have read all or portions of hundreds of sales books over the past 40 years, but most of what I have learned has come from the spark of an idea gleaned from a book and then somewhat altered once I got out into the field and had to actually apply the strategy. Kind of like you.

All sales books—as well as sales experts—offer some form of valuable information. As a student, it’s your job to determine how that information fits into your skill set, environment, marketplace, and customer interactions.

Mastering the World of Selling is loaded with sales experts and business experts offering some of their best ideas and their best strategies and their best tips and their best information.

Eric Taylor cold-called me in 2002, claiming he could put on a public seminar in my home state of New Jersey. He told me that he would fill the hall with people and sponsors and was willing to pay my fee in order to make that happen.

I had worked with many public seminar promoters, most of whom had failed miserably, and at that time it was my decision not to work with any public promoter, but rather to do the seminars myself. But there was something about Eric that I liked—his spirit, his ideas, his self-confidence, his ability to convey a message; so I decided to say okay.

Eric filled the hall that day, and my new friend Matt Holt—an editor from John Wiley & Sons, Inc.—came to see me.

Matt has risen much higher in the company and is publishing this book along with his talented editor Shannon Vargo. (It all comes full circle.) Eric filled the hall again in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007. In 2008, we did an event called “Jersey Boys” where I partnered with two other sales experts who had grown up in New Jersey like I had.

Eric Taylor has done it again, this time with David Riklan, the founder of SelfGrowth.com. Eric is a world-class student, participant, and all-around father. In compiling this twenty-first-century best-of sales book, he has used his connections, his wisdom, and his moxie to create a book that contains way more than reading material. Study it, highlight it, implement it, and bank it.

How to read the book: Learning sales skills is a matter of understanding, adoption, application, and a bit of tweaking. I have found that unless the tip or strategy is comfortable to me, I won’t use it. It has to fit with my personality and be in the framework of my comfortable conversation and ethics.

As a reader myself, I am challenging you to look at the ideas you encounter here with an open mind and strike from your mind the phrase “I know that.” Most salespeople already know everything; the problem is that they don’t do it. Rather, ask yourself, “How good at that am I on a scale of 1 to 10?”

Then ask yourself:

How does this information apply to me?

Do I agree with this?

Am I comfortable with this?

Does it fit my personality?

Is this me?

If the answer to all of those questions is yes, then ask yourself the following questions:

Is this in the best interest of the customer?

Will this lead me to a long-term relationship with the customer? And finally the true self-test question:

Will this make my mother proud?

This book is all about what is working now. It looks at business, sales, service, and personal development for the second decade of the twenty-first century. The messages offered are from experts in their field who have actually used these methods and strategies to build their own success. And your job is to adopt them, adapt them, and turn them into money.

—Jeffrey Gitomer, author of The Little Red Book of Selling

Introduction

“Nothing happens until somebody sells something.”

—Arthur H. (Red) Motley (1900-1984), Master Salesman

Everyone Sells

Since you most likely sell something for a living, you know the value of self-improvement and building your sales skills. Like you, we are selling in the trenches every day, fighting to gain more market share and to keep our existing client base. Just one good idea from the hundreds in this book can give you a competitive advantage and repay your investment many times over.

The goal of Mastering the World of Selling is simple, clear, and focused; we want this book to become your ultimate sales resource.

This book was created to help you to sell something better . . . faster . . . smarter . . . and with more profit!

What’s in This Book for You?

• Over 400 sales tips from the top sales training companies in the world.

• More than 85 powerful sales articles you can use for sales meetings, to prep for a sales call, or to coach your sales team.

• Detailed profiles and contact information to over 150 of the world’s greatest sales training resources.

• Access to hundreds of products and services, online resources, associations, and sales communities you can learn from and contribute to.

The current economic climate has created new opportunities but has also made the competitive landscape fierce. Whether you are just starting your sales career today or have been closing complex sales transactions for decades, this book has sales answers that can help you sell more.

Selling is one of the most rewarding and noble professions in the world.

Thank you for investing in this book and in your sales success!

Mastering the World of Selling enables you to sell more, more easily.

Your Past and Present Hold the Key to Your Future

Where are you going?

No, I’m not asking where you are going on your next appointment or where you are going out to dinner. And I’m not asking where you are going when you get to the mall. I’m asking “Where are you going in life?” That’s a pretty big question because it’s about your future.

Did you miss your quota last month? Last year? How come? Blaming it on the economy again? Blaming it on the competition again? What is a quota, anyway? A quota is a goal that someone else sets for you. I’m asking: What have you set for yourself? When someone gives you a quota, why not double it? That way you’ll make the number with ease. It’s all in how you look at things.

Guess what? You create barriers or you jump over them.

Once a year I try to predict the future. I do it on the anniversary of the beginning of my writing career. This week marks my fifteenth anniversary. It’s always a cause for deep reflection because writing and being published is the fulcrum point of my success. It’s not only about how I’ve made a name for myself, it’s also about the legacy that I will leave salespeople worldwide—and, of course, my children and grandchildren.

Writing is about more than creating new sales information each week that salespeople like you can benefit from. It’s about being self-disciplined so I can clarify my own ideas, which form the basis for the speeches that I give and the books that I write.

If you really want to know where you’re going, you have to understand where you’ve been and recognize where you are. Where you’ve been, or the past, provides you with knowledge and experiences, successes and failures, as well as opportunities and obstacles. Where you are, or the present, is what happened during the past 30 days, what’s happening today, as well as what’s going to happen within the next 30 days. Where you’ll be, or the future, is a combination of your experience, your being open to opportunity, your goals and dreams, your tolerance for risk, as well as your determination and focus.

Let me clarify that and break it down into three-and-a-half easy-to-digest categories.

1. Once was. 2. As is. 3. Can be. 3.5 Become.

Once was is the history of your life. It’s the sum total of your knowledge, your wisdom, your experience, your victories, and your defeats. If you look closely at the history of your life, you can see some things that you wanted with all your heart but you didn’t get. At the time you were devastated, but in retrospect it seems silly that you ever wanted those things. You can also see some things that you were given or that you earned, but once you got them, you quickly lost interest. More important, you see the things you loved and how they have affected you. You look at the risks you took and think that if you had the opportunity to take them again, you might not. And all of that brings you to as is.

As is is where you are today. Are you where you want to be? Are you happy with your lot in life? Are you blaming your lack of success on someone else? Have you found what you are looking for? Do you even know what it is?

Some of us haven’t found what we are looking for, but that doesn’t mean to stop looking. I didn’t start writing until I was 45 years old. If you’re younger than that and you start writing tomorrow, in 13 years you’ll be ahead of me.

I’m teaching my granddaughter to write. She’ll be 50 years ahead of me.

As is provides you with your greatest single opportunity. It’s about how you decide to invest your time and money. The time to take action is now. The time to take a risk is now. The time to go for what you want is now. The time to educate yourself and study is now. If you do, you may be able to achieve the success you are looking for later.

Many people think that once they’re done with high school or college, they have essentially finished their studies. That may be okay if you aspire to ask clients “Will that be paper or plastic?”

Success doesn’t simply show up in the now. Success comes as a result of hard work and focus in the now. It’s what you are willing to “do” in the now. But that elusive brass ring you are looking for lies within. It’s the can be.

Can be is full of dreams, full of goals, and full of serendipity. Some things are not goals. Some things just evolve. And in that evolution, you can find what you really love. If you love something, you don’t have to make it a goal. Instead, you just work your butt off, and it becomes reality.

What you can be is going to be a result of your hard work, your positive attitude, your passion, your focus on achievement, and your drive not to let little things stand in your way—even if it means risking what you’ve got.

Many people in their struggles will come to me and say, “Jeffrey, you don’t understand.” And then they go on to say something about their personal situation, their money, their luck, their spouse, or their kids.

I understand just fine. People are afraid to risk what they have in order to go for what they really want. The worst part of not risking is lamenting—lamenting that you didn’t try it, that you didn’t go for it, or that you should have done it.

Maybe it’s time for you to read or watch The Wizard of Oz again and see how it relates to your life. Remember what Dorothy’s companions were searching for? Courage, brains, and heart. You’ve always known the formula—you just haven’t used it. And with very few exceptions, you’re not in Kansas anymore.

And when you combine once was, as is, and can be, the sum of that is what you will become. One of the most valuable lessons I have ever learned was from a friend, Dr. Paul Homoly, who said to me, “Make all decisions based on the person you would like to become.” That wisdom is so powerful that I think of it every day. It’s been a big part of my success. It makes me think “long term” as I decide. It makes me think “best” as I decide. Perhaps you can use it in your quest to be your best.

Allow me to throw some words at you: Educate yourself, try your best, risk failure, seize the opportunity, develop self-discipline, dedicate yourself to becoming a winner, and make a commitment that it’s for you first and everybody else second.

It’s not a formula—it’s a philosophy. And philosophy is the secret to getting you from where you are to where you want to be.

My philosophy is simple.

I give value first. I help other people. I strive to be my best at what I love to do. I establish long-term relationships with everyone. I have fun—every day. I don’t just “have” a philosophy—I live it.

And I found out a secret: When you love what you do, all of your days are the same—they are holidays! And I wish the same for you: a safe, fun, and successful journey.

—Jeffrey Gitomer

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Little Red Book of Selling. president of Charlotte-based Buy Gitomer, he gives seminars, runs annual sales meetings, and conducts Internet training programs on selling and customer service at www.trainone.com. He can be reached at 704-333- 1112, or e-mail [email protected].

Chapter 1

Collaboration

Changing the World

Randall K. Murphy

Acclivus R3 Solutions

Collaboration. What do we mean by collaboration, and why would a book on sales training start with a chapter on collaboration?

The reason is simple. Collaboration is all around us. Frequently still in the concept stage, often not fully understood, and sometimes awkwardly situated between rhetoric and reality, collaboration is nonetheless steadily emerging as the new model or paradigm for individuals and groups working productively together. It is becoming the preferred method for successful sales and customer relationships.

From Newsweek and Time to Harvard Business Review and Fortune to The Futurist, articles abound promoting collaboration, “the collaborative mind-set,” and “the collaborative advantage.” Collaboration is being recommended for applications ranging from relationships between individuals to relationships between organizations to relationships between and among nations.

What is collaboration? Where does it come from? What does it mean? Where is it going?

Collaboration is the most promising approach for building productive, long-term relationships, both personal and professional. As an approach, collaboration is based upon interdependent needs. To be interdependent, the needs of one individual do not have to be exactly the same as the needs of another; they must, however, be so aligned that when one individual benefits, both benefit, and if one individual is harmed, the other is also harmed.

The perception of interdependent needs allows for (1) a driving motivation to achieve an optimal return for both, or all, parties involved; (2) a high level of implicit trust; and (3) a sharing of power. The seller and the buyer must have this collaborative mind-set to be successful.

Where did collaboration come from as a term, as a concept, and as an approach for building productive, long-term relationships? If you search through books and articles from 20 years ago, you will find no mention of collaboration other than in reference to musical composers. Under the headings of conflict resolution, negotiation, interpersonal communication, professional selling, management, and leadership, there is no mention of sharing power, no mention of interdependent needs, and no mention of collaboration.

Twenty years ago Acclivus R3 Solutions launched an intensive, ongoing study of relationships in the workplace. The initial focus for this study was the process of negotiation, particularly business-to-business negotiation, between a sales or consulting professional and a customer or client. The study evolved into an effort to determine (1) the optimal form of a working relationship and how to build it, (2) methods for preventing damage to the relationship during negotiation and conflict resolution, and (3) approaches for strengthening the relationship through the negotiating process.

What Acclivus R3 Solutions discovered was a form of working relationship vastly more productive than competition, and with potential considerably beyond that of simple cooperation. We discovered collaboration—a higher level of relationship, communication, and negotiation.

Collaboration is the best approach, not for every individual or organization and not for every relationship, but for those individuals and organizations that want to work together as partners toward the achievement of optimal results.

Collaborative relationships are built, not simply formed, and alignment of needs requires continuing effort. Most of us have more experience as competitors than as collaborators, and there is a strong tendency to follow our competitive instincts—especially under pressure. Because collaboration is a relatively new way, it is not always the most comfortable or natural way.

Collaboration, though, provides us with the opportunity to escape the bounds and limitations of the traditional supplier/ customer, consultant/client, and manager/individual contributor relationships. Collaboration is truly working together. In order for salespeople, sales teams, and companies to be successful in this new environment, we must focus on building and achieving a true collaboration between ourselves and our customers. With this mind-set, instead of being perceived as one of many vendors, you are seen as a collaborative partner, changing the way you do business.

Name: Randall K. Murphy Company: Acclivus R3 Solutions Web Site: www.acclivus.com

Biography: Randall K. Murphy is the founder and president of Acclivus R3 Solutions, a global performance development and consulting organization. He is the primary author and architect of the 17-program integrated curriculum utilized by clients of Acclivus R3 Solutions. He introduced the concept and application of the word cocreate and gave the word collaboration meaning in the organizational workplace. He conceived the Consultative Approach and has taught more than 30,000 professionals and managers in workshops worldwide.

Leading organizations in more than 80 countries worldwide rely on Acclivus R3 Solutions to assist them with the training of their sales, support, and service professionals, managers, and executives.

Selling Philosophy: The Consultative Approach

Target Industries: Computer hardware and software, consulting and financial, telecommunications, medical equipment, manufacturing, consumer products

Best Sellers: R3 Sales Excellence, Inside R3 Sales, Acclivus Sales Negotiation, R3 Service, R3 Strategic Sales Presentations, Acclivus Coaching, R3 Interaction, MAPS (Major Account Planning and Strategy) TP&M (Territory Planning & Management), AIM Services

Sales Tip One: First diagnose, then prescribe. Sales Tip Two: Plan your opening; the opening sets the stage for the entire meeting. Sales Tip Three: Qualifying is forever; anything and everything can change. Product One: R3 Sales Excellence Product Two: R3 Service Product Three: Acclivus Sales Negotiation and Dr. Azul (online follow-through)

Chapter 2

Living Your Vows in a Whirlwind Economy

Seleste Lunsford

AchieveGlobal

In today’s economy, selling needs to be more like a marriage and less like a whirlwind romance.

The concept is fairly basic: Predictable long-term revenue growth requires enduring, mutually beneficial customer relationships.

The challenge lies neither in grasping that point, nor in popping the question, but in doing what it takes to live up to your vows.

• FIND THE RIGHT CUSTOMERS

To reach and exceed their revenue goals, salespeople need customers who value what you sell—which is ideally expressed in a clear value proposition. Whether product-centered (“We sell world-class widgets”) or service-centered (“We grow your business”), a value proposition—like a marriage proposal—frames the kind of relationship you want.

Yet a recent AchieveGlobal study found at least two trends that complicate your customer relationships. Increased competition has made commodities of many products and services, and savvy customers now rely on arm’s-length buying models—requests for proposal (RFPs), reverse auctions, procurement teams, and others. To weather these challenges, it’s important to segment and prioritize customers based on the value they find in you, not just the value you find in them. Then sift this data for the specific customers most likely to value what you sell.

• DEFINE A RELATIONSHIP PROCESS

Even among organizations that sell on price or convenience, few realize long-term success without equally long-term relationships. Our study found that leading sales organizations now support these relationships by matching salespeople to specific market segments, allocating resources to the best opportunities, and leveraging multiple sales channels, such as distributors and e-commerce.

In addition, these organizations often tailor a relationship process for each customer segment. As a result, they’re far more likely to send the right salesperson to the right customer to generate the right return.

Relationships thrive or fail based on defining moments in every customer interaction. Make these moments positive with a relationship process that matches your activities and resources to the buying patterns and expectations of each market segment. A tailored process benefits customers through your solution, of course, and equally through the expert counsel of your salespeople. The process benefits you through longer-term revenue streams and protection from competitors and price pressures.

• BUILD A WELCOMING HOME

Customers tend to stick around when your house is in order. A welcoming home begins with a coherent sales strategy that tells everyone what to sell, to whom, and how to sell it. A mismatched sales culture or support system can sabotage even the best-laid strategy.

At the heart of your sales culture, values and beliefs drive decisions, activities, motivation, performance, and turnover. Even so, our research found that mergers, acquisitions, other big changes, and related short-term thinking can crush the effort to maintain long-term customer relationships.

Promote the needed values and practices by making relationships a strategic centerpiece and by making learning and development a cultural norm. Once your team agrees on the beliefs that guide decisions, reward information sharing and celebrate success.

Like cultural challenges, overwrought systems and policies can weaken customer relationships. For example, if you think your customer relationship management (CRM) or sales force automation (SFA) software hasn’t lived up to the hype, perhaps people simply don’t know how to use it.

To remove systemic obstacles, streamline your market, territory, account, opportunity, and sales-call planning. Align compensation and incentives to strategy. Recalibrate coaching and performance management to support desired behaviors. Find and use effective CRM or SFA software. Finally, select or create essential collateral, return-on-investment (ROI) calculators, and other selling tools—and deep-six the rest.

• LEARN FROM EACH OTHER

Strategy, culture, and systems support customer relationships. Building relationships requires salespeople who can demonstrate knowledge in a number of areas that affect the customer’s perception of them and of your organization:

• Global and national business issues

• Industry trends and events affecting you and your customers

• Product features and benefits

• Customers—both organizations and people

• Each stage of your relationship processes

• Politics in the customer’s organization

Help everyone see the wider context and nitty-gritty details for each market segment. The payoff is nothing less than mutual understanding, without which no customer relationship can survive. Besides applying this knowledge, salespeople need to be obsessive about maintaining each customer relationship. Support that daily effort by giving salespeople the “why” behind your expectations. Provide frequent developmental opportunities, and then recognize and reward the desired behaviors. Just as critical, give people the skills to cultivate long-term relationships—not only in-the-moment sales skills, but prospecting, presentation, negotiation, service, strategic, and other skills as well.

• TO HAVE AND TO HOLD

While it’s mainly salespeople who interact directly with customers, a customer marries your entire family. The truth is, everyone in the sales organization plays a role in every long-term customer relationship:

• Senior executives define the sales strategy and cascade it to others.

• Divisional or regional VPs communicate the strategy, oversee its execution, and develop sales leaders.

• Sales managers communicate and apply the strategy as they coach and develop their teams.

• Salespeople, service reps, technicians, and other frontline people acquire, grow, and retain individual customer relationships.

So, to retain your valued customers, people at every level—even executives—need to demonstrate your shared values as well as level-specific knowledge and skills.

Like any partner, a customer can change as reflected needs and expectations evolve. That’s why at least one marriage cliché applies equally to sales: Never stop working on your relationship. Stay in touch with market trends. Revisit and adjust your strategy.

Refine your culture. Restructure systems to support your strategy. Provide opportunities for all to learn and grow.

Only then will your customers sustain you, even in the toughest economy.

Name: Sharon Daniels Company: AchieveGlobal Web Site: www.achieveglobal.com

Biography: AchieveGlobal helps organizations translate business strategies into results by improving the performance of their people. AchieveGlobal has proven expertise in leadership development, customer service, and sales effectiveness.

AchieveGlobal is led by Chief Executive Officer Sharon Daniels.

Ms. Daniels worked in banking prior to joining the training industry. She has held numerous roles in operations, mergers and acquisitions, branch management, and training and consulting.

She holds a bachelor of education degree from the University of Florida and a Master’s in training and organizational development from the University of South Florida and has over 25 years of experience in general management and sales leadership.

Selling Philosophy: Relationship-building skills

Best Sellers: PSS: Professional Selling Skills; SCW: Selling in a Competitive World; PPS: Professional Prospecting Skills; PSC: Professional Sales Coaching

Sales Tip One: Clarify the value you offer your customers.

Sales Tip Two: Find and engage the customers who will value your services.

Sales Tip Three: Develop a consistent relationship process that matters to these customers.

Book One: Strategies That Win Sales

Book Two: Secrets of Top-Performing Salespeople

Book Three: Achieving a Triple Win: Human Capital Management of the Employee Lifecycle

Product One: Professional Selling Skills

Chapter 3

Ninety Percent of All Sales Force Training Fails

Duane Sparks

Action Selling

“Here’s the problem—and the solution.”

• SALES TRAINING’S DIRTY LITTLE SECRET

Investing in training for your sales force seems like a perfectly sensible business practice. It must be a smart thing to do; after all, sales training is estimated to be a billion-dollar industry.

Here’s the problem: 90 percent of the training that salespeople receive fails to produce meaningful, long-term performance gains.

A billion-dollar industry with a 90 percent failure rate? Even I’m disgusted with that.

• BUT YOU STILL NEED TO PROVIDE TRAINING

With the ever-accelerating speed of change in both knowledge and technology, it is clear that we have a choice: We either continue to learn, or we allow our skills and knowledge to become obsolete.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard “We hire only experienced salespeople,” as if that were a solution. The idea that sales experience is a “living textbook” has two major pitfalls:

1. As the world changes, our methods for dealing with situations lag behind. Therefore, we continue to make the same selling errors time and time again.

2. In a sales career spanning 30 years, the same one year’s worth of experience can be repeated 30 times.

Aberdeen Group, a highly regarded research firm, reports that even in a constricted economy, best-in-class companies are increasing revenues by 20 percent more than laggard firms, through the use of sales training. So, how do the top 10 percent of companies leverage sales training while others waste their time and money?

• WHY DOES SALES TRAINING FAIL?

Everyone has experienced a great seminar. You laughed, you cheered, you took notes. But a month later, I’ll bet you could barely recall the name of the speaker, much less the things you “learned.” Research shows that 87 percent of the information delivered in seminars and workshops is forgotten within 30 days. After that, the retention rate gets worse.

The following sections outline the three biggest reasons why any given training program will fail to produce lasting performance improvements.

• A. Wrong Content

First, you have to teach the right content. Many skills, traits, and qualities contribute to sales success. For example, personality and motivation definitely have an impact on performance. The trouble is, you can’t teach personality and motivation—and salespeople can’t “learn” it! Training has to focus on skills that can be taught, learned, mastered, and measured.

There might be a hundred skills that are teachable and learnable and that contribute to sales success. But you can’t teach anyone how to do a hundred things well. Instead, you must focus on the skills that are most likely to lead to high performance in a sales role: the Five Critical Selling SkillsTM.

1. Buyer/Seller Relationship: When sellers understand the series and sequence of sub-decisions that customers go through when making a major buying decision, and skillfully match their sales process with the buyer’s decision-making process, success rates improve dramatically.

2. Sales Call Planning: What is your Commitment Objective for this sales call? That is, what do you want the customer to agree to do next? Failure to have a Commitment Objective is the most frequent mistake made by salespeople. That’s followed by failure to devise a questioning plan for the sales call and failure to prepare a Company Story. Poor planning skills often result from the lack of a clearly defined sales process to follow.

3. Questioning Skills: The impact of poor questioning skills is horrendous. Eighty-six percent of salespeople ask the wrong types of questions. The question is the number-one tool in the salesperson’s kit. Unfortunately, it’s either used improperly or it’s rusty.

4. Presentation Skills: Most salespeople think that they are fantastic presenters. They can spew large quantities of data about their products. The problem is, customers don’t want that. They want you to zero in on specific solutions based on their unique needs for your product or service.

5. Gaining Commitment: Most salespeople agree that this is the skill they most need to improve. If a salesperson is not good at gaining commitment from the client, why is he or she on anyone’s payroll? Yet research shows that 62 percent of salespeople don’t ask for commitment consistently on their sales calls.

• B. Rejected by Salespeople

You’ve seen them—the sales reps who come to a training session with the attitude that they already know it all. Their body language alone speaks volumes: arms crossed, eyes rolling, virtually daring the instructor to say something that might interest them. These people were not properly prepared to come to your training. And without motivation, there can be no learning at all.

Salespeople need to be sold on the need for training and the benefits it offers them. And I mean they have to be sold on the need for this particular program—not on the idea of training in the abstract or on learning as a swell thing.

This sale is no different from any other sale. The buyers (your salespeople) must see the program as a solution to needs that they agree exist. If they don’t recognize and agree on the need, the training will be a waste of time. The benefits of using and mastering the skills have to be perceived as far greater than the investment of time and effort required.

• C. Ineffective Transfer

Transfer is a term we use when learning is actually applied in the field. It’s the only reason why a business organization would want to do training in the first place.

Most people mistakenly think of transfer as a synonym for follow-up or reinforcement—events that happen after the training program is over. Sure, that’s part of what needs to be done. But other factors play into the transfer process as well.

The following are the five critical elements that determine whether learning will transfer from the classroom to the job:

1. Students must be actively involved in the entire learning process.

2. Early in the training process, students need to connect the learning to their life experiences. It has to make sense in the world they know. They need to see relevance right away.

3. They must know that there will be follow-up activities and assessments that measure what they learned and how well they are applying the new skills in their day-to-day work.

4. They must be held accountable by their managers to demonstrate the use of new skills and knowledge in the field. This cements the message that management believes that learning was important.

5. Managers must minimize the transfer distance by helping learners apply new skills and knowledge on the job—quickly.

• LOTS OF TALK AND FAILED ATTEMPTS

Corporate trainers, including sales trainers, have discussed these issues for decades. And companies that create their own sales training or buy it from sales training companies are certainly aware of the questionable benefits they usually get. Why, then, does the problem persist? My answer is that most sales training does produce an immediate result. It just doesn’t last.

Most sales training programs contain some useful information. Immediately following a training session, some salespeople will pick up an idea, take it to the field, and score a sale that they wouldn’t have gotten before. Instant return on investment! Terrific! But a few months later, they’re back to their old behaviors. It’s called relapse.

Let’s talk about the solution.

• THE VISION FOR EFFECTIVE SALES TRAINING

The following table describes the problems and three solutions for each one.

No doubt this table makes effective sales training sound like a daunting proposition, difficult to pull off. Sorry, but it is. I’ve invested 20 years in the development of content and systems for student motivation and transfer. I wouldn’t suggest that you try to duplicate this effort when the results are available from my company for a very affordable price.

I know what other companies in the sales training industry are providing. Some of their content is very good. The problem is simply this: The reason for the 90 percent failure rate of sales training courses has to do with all of the factors I’ve described. You can’t cover only one or two bases and expect to get long-term results.

All of us in sales have developed certain habits, no matter if our careers span 5 days or 50 years. Some of those habits work against us; they’re dead wrong. Changing habits is the hardest thing that a human being is ever asked to do. But when sales organizations approach training in the way I have described, it works every time. And with Action Selling, it’s not that hard to do.

Name: Duane Sparks Company: The Sales Board—Action Selling Web Site: www.ActionSelling.com

Biography: Duane Sparks is chairman of The Sales Board and author of Action Selling. His company has trained and certified more than 350,000 salespeople in the skills of Action Selling. Duane has personally facilitated over 300 Action Selling training sessions and has written five best-selling books: Action Selling: How to Sell Like a Professional, Even If You Think You Are One; Selling Your Price: How to Escape the Race to the Bargain Basement; Questions: The Answer to Sales; Masters of Loyalty: How to Turn Your Sales Force into a Loyalty Force; and Sales Strategy from the Inside Out: How Complex Selling Really Works.

Selling Philosophy: Sustainable results from superior sales training Target Industries: Manufacturing, distribution, medical, services Best Sellers: Action Selling Sales Training

Sales Tip One: Focus on improving the five critical selling skills: (1) buyer/seller relationship, (2) sales call planning, (3) questioning, (4) presenting, and (5) gaining commitment.

Sales Tip Two: Without reinforcement and measurement, 87 percent of learning is forgotten in 30 days. What gets measured gets learned.

Sales Tip Three: Set a commitment objective for every call: A goal that you set for yourself to gain agreement from the customer that moves the sales process forward.

Book One: Action Selling: How to Sell Like a Professional, Even If You Think You Are One Book Two: Selling Your Price: How to Escape the Race to the Bargain Basement Book Three: Questions: The Answer to Sales Product One: Action Selling Product Two: Selling Your Price Product Three: Questions: The Answer to Sales

Chapter 4

Eleven Telephone Tips to Effectively Reach Out and Touch Others

Dr. Tony Alessandra

Platinum Rule Group

We tend to take our telephones and cell phones for granted, but salespeople must demonstrate appropriate telephone behavior when talking to clients and other business contacts. Courtesy and thoughtfulness are the basic components of telephone etiquette. The knowledge of etiquette makes telephoning easier because if you creatively obey the rules, you can be confident that you will behave in the most appropriate, productive way.

With this in mind, here are 11 guidelines for polite and effective telephone usage:

1. When answering the phone in the office, immediately identify your company, department, and name. If you are self-employed with a home office, answer by stating your name.

2. When talking to customers, call them by name. Not only will the customer be pleased, but by repeating the name, you’re more likely to remember it. Be sure not to overuse this courtesy though, as it can become annoying. This also applies when talking to an executive assistant: First ask for the name of the assistant, and then you can begin using their name in all future correspondence.

3. Know yourself and how you sound to others. You can find this out by recording your voice. Then critique your tone, manners, friendliness, and vocal quality. This is even more helpful if you ask others to critique you.

4. Always use the hold button if you must temporarily leave the phone. It’s surprising what the person on the line can hear, and you may inadvertently embarrass yourself—or the other person.

5. When placing a customer on hold, make sure you reassure the customer every 20 to 30 seconds that you haven’t forgotten him or her. If you must do this more than twice, it’s probably better to call back when you’re able to talk.

6. Know your customers. Know not only their names, but also how they prefer to be treated. Then deal with them in their preferred mode. Do they like a fast or slow pace? Do they want just the facts or do they prefer to chat first before getting down to business?

7. Know your product or service. Your product mastery should shine through. Then you’ll be able to match customer needs (benefits) with your product knowledge (features).

8. Keep a telephone notepad and pen handy so you can quickly write messages or notes. We’ve all waited for what seems to be 10 minutes while the harried message taker searches for a pencil or paper.

9. Plan your calls ahead. Try writing a summary of everything you need to know before making the call. Every sales call you make should have an objective (goal).

10. Let the customer hang up first. Have you ever concluded a conversation with someone and just as they were hanging up, you thought of one more thing to say? To avoid cutting off your customer’s thoughts, let them hang up first.

11. Choose your words carefully. On the telephone, your words and vocal quality carry your message. In person, if there is any doubt as to the meaning, you can sense it from the person’s nonverbal feedback. Over the phone, however, you may unintentionally insult your customer and never know it. For example, when you say, “As I said . . .” or “To put it another way . . . ,” you imply that the other person did not understand you the first time. Another common phrase is, “Let me ask you a question.” It may be a subtle difference, but notice that this is a command, not a question. A command immediately puts someone on the defensive. A better way to say this is, “May I ask you a question?” or “Do you mind if I ask you some questions?” This involves them in the conversation and makes them want to talk to you instead of resentfully following your orders.

Name: Tony Alessandra Company: Platinum Rule Group, LLC Web Site: www.PlatinumRule.com

Biography: Dr. Tony Alessandra has a streetwise, college-smart perspective on business, having been raised in the housing projects of New York City and eventually realizing success as a graduate professor of marketing, entrepreneur, business author, and hall-of-fame keynote speaker.

In addition to being president of the Assessment Business Center, Tony is a founding partner in The Cyrano Group and Platinum Rule Group. He has written 18 best-selling books, including The New Art of Managing People, Charisma, The Platinum Rule, Collaborative Selling, and Communicating at Work. He is featured in over 50 audio/video programs and films and originated the Platinum Rule.

Selling Philosophy: Collaborative (nonmanipulative) selling

Target Industries: Financial services, medical/pharmaceuticals, hardware/software companies

Best Sellers: Platinum Rule, Collaborative Selling, Charisma, Customer Loyalty, The Power of Listening

Sales Tip One: Prescription before diagnosis is malpractice—any salesperson who attempts to sell a solution before fully understanding the customer’s needs, from the customer’s point of view, is engaging in sales malpractice.

Sales Tip Two: The Platinum Rule of Selling: Adjust your selling style to fit the customer’s buying style.

Sales Tip Three: People don’t buy because they’re made to understand; they buy because they feel understood.

Book One: The Platinum Rule for Sales Mastery Book Two: Charisma Book Three: Collaborative Selling Product One: The Platinum Rule (two-hour DVD) Product Two: Astounding Customer Service (DVD) Product Three: The Platinum Rule (video training DVD)

Chapter 5

The “At-Leaster” Phenomenon

Brian Azar

The Sales Catalyst

If you’ve ever watched the opening of ABC’s Wide World of Sports, then you’ve seen the winning runner break through the finish line, arms upraised in triumph, elated by the “thrill of victory.” Of course, you’ve also seen the championship skier as he miscalculates and goes tumbling down the slopes into the “agony of defeat.”

Victory and defeat. Winning and losing. Good and bad. All similar concepts—right? The thing is, both these people are winners. Why? Because only winners enter the race in the first place.

Whether it’s business, professional life, athletics—or even love—only those who are ready to risk losing, willing to accept the consequences, and able to profit from their losses will ever know the taste of victory.

The risk involved in becoming a winner is a tall order for a salesperson, and the reason so many sales forces are suffering is not that they don’t have winners on their teams, but because too many of their players won’t enter the race. While the “thrill of victory” is undeniably seductive, the “agony of defeat” is often more intimidating.

Just what makes the fear of losing so immobilizing? The reasons are buried in our social conscience, where attitudes we hardly understand and barely acknowledge shape our thinking and actions. Perhaps the most powerful mixed message we receive as children is the belief we hold about winning and losing. “It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game,” we learn to say. But what we really believe is the dictum of coach Vince Lombardi: “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” Is it any wonder, then, that most people would rather forego the “thrill of victory” than risk the “agony of defeat”?

• THE COMFORT ZONE

Most people tend to be nonriskers. Their tombstones could easily read: “Died at 30 . . . buried at 80.” They’re men and women who’ve settled at an early age into the comfort zone of mediocrity. As justification for the grayness of their lives, they tell themselves: “Well, I may not have won, but at least I didn’t lose.”

In years of working with sales organizations, we’ve found that 60 percent of the nation’s sales force is made up of these “At-Leasters.” Stymied by their fears, hung up between failure and world-class success, occasionally actualizing their potential (but sure to fall back), At-Leasters, with their seesaw sales-performance records, are a mysterious drain on their companies’ sales records, representing a major hidden loss and often infecting the entire corporation with At-Leastitus.

More than most other professions, salespeople are judged, by themselves and by others, on “measurable results,” which makes them particularly susceptible to At-Leastism. For managers, the challenge becomes one of how to revitalize this group—to turn those mushy “50 Percenters” into true winners.

In their attempt to put solid ground under their psyches, salespeople define themselves in one of three ways, all based on “measurable results.” They are either Losers, Winners, or something in between. How each one sees himself or herself, the internal picture, becomes the face that looks back in the corporate washroom mirror.

“Loser” salespeople see themselves inescapably hedged in by their limitations. Lifelong low self-esteem chronically inhibits their sales ability. They blame themselves when something goes wrong, unable to examine the circumstances or analyze the situation. Loser salespeople occupy 20 percent of the sales jobs in this country, but since they almost never make quota, they eventually move on, making room for a new crop of underachievers.