Sales Tips

The Salesperson And The Commencement Address

06/21/2021 By Don Crawford Leave a Comment

My wife and I recently attended the graduation of our oldest grandchild. Listening to the speeches I was struck by how a commencement address reflects on the life of a great salesperson. The messages congratulating the students on their success in high school and encouraging words about the future outline what every great salesperson believes.

Commencement speeches will motivate salespeople too.

Salespeople Learn From A Commencement Address
Image by AdrianMedia from Pixabay

Students, faculty and administration all had similar message. “We survived and indeed thrived COVID-19. And it formed the character of all who lived this unique high school experience.” Great salespeople too have overcome the challenges of the pandemic. So think about the common commencement address themes: vision, passion, humor, kindness, and continue learning. And, of course, to acknowledge and honor achievement….

Sales Skill: Getting to “NO”!

06/14/2021 By Don Crawford Leave a Comment

What you, great salesperson, are shocked that a sales skill is getting to “no”! Think about it. Do you win every sales pursuit? Do you want to convert every prospect to a customer? And aren’t you the one advising those new salespeople that selling is a numbers game? So the sooner you get all those “no’s” out of the way, the quicker you get to “yes”. There are three times in the course of getting the order when getting to “no” is important: Qualifying, Confirming and Presenting.

Go For The “NO”
Image from Pixabay

Qualifying: Looking For The “No”

Great salespeople know they have a qualified prospect when they have rapport with the decision maker, they have a problem you can solve and the budget is there. Any one of these is absent, then you don’t have a qualified prospect. So great salespeople ask good open-ended questions to qualify the prospect. If you can’t build trust and comfort with a prospect, chances are you won’t get good answers. Better to move on. When the prospect doesn’t have a problem they want you to help solve. Time to look for another prospect. No sense waiting to the close to find out they can’t afford your product or service. Get to the budget “no” quickly. Now you see that in the qualifying process getting to “no” quickly saves time.

Confirming

When great salespeople ask good open-ended questions, they hope for answers to lead them toward the successful conclusion of the sale. But we don’t often hear it right. So we ask confirming questions. These questions validate to the prospect we are listening. Confirming questions also help salespeople better understand the prospects mind. In short sales pursuits a confirming question can lead to the close: “If I can get it in blue, would you buy it?” Getting a “no” here gives the salesperson a chance to go on selling by asking other questions about color and other product features. In long sales cycles the “no” along the way offers insight in what it takes to get the “yes”.

Looking For “No” In The Closing Presentation

Now, Crawford, you’ve really lost it! Why put all the work into qualifying a prospect only to hope for “no” in the closing. Good question. Great salespeople are deaf to “no” during the closing presentation. It’s not they don’t hear the word but they interpret it as: “I have a question.” “No” is often an objection. In other words, an appeal for a clarification. So salespeople can find out the reason behind the “no” and go on selling.

The favorite outcome at the end of a sales pursuit is the “yes”. But the least favorite is not “no”; it’s: “I want to think it over.” The salesperson lives in limbo waiting for the prospect to think about it. And most times : “I want to think over” is a polite way for the customer to say “no” without hurting the salesperson’s feelings. Better to have the prospect agree at the beginning of the presentation to tell you “no” if they aren’t going to buy from you. But great salespeople work hard to get the “yes” and they understand the value of “no”.

What You Can Do Right Now Getting To “NO”!

Understand “no” is not personal
Realize “no” is a time saver for you
Treat “no” as an appeal for more information

To learn more sales secrets see Chapter Thirteen, Getting The Order, in Secrets of the Softer Side of Selling. For even more sales encouragement, join our FREE Sales Club! “See” you next week.

Good selling!
Don Crawford

Sales Skill: Successful Selling Behaviors

06/04/2021 By Don Crawford Leave a Comment

Ok so “selling behaviors” might not register with you, great salesperson. Maybe it’s an archaic term. So how about selling tasks or selling activities or just stuff we do to close more sales. Whatever you want to call it these are the things we do every day over and over to become the best salesperson we can be. In the last post I encouraged salespeople to focus on behavior and not be preoccupied with attitude. So what are the successful selling behaviors?

Successful Selling Behaviors Win
Image From Pixabay

In all aspects of life, we do the same things over and over and over again. In the kitchen, we cook, eat, clean up and do it all over again. A fisherman baits his hook, casts into the water, trolls the bait, hooks the fish, reels it in lifts the fish into the boat with his net. Then does it all over again. Salespeople prospect, qualify, close, follow up, ask for referrals and do it multiple times a day. And they pause periodically to measure how they are doing….

Sales Skill: Focus on Behavior

05/31/2021 By Don Crawford Leave a Comment

I’ll bet you have heard more than one motivational speaker talk about positive mental attitude and how important it is in the quest for success in sales. While enjoying your work and being optimistic is important, successful salespeople focus on behavior. That is, the daily level of activity accomplished. It is behavior—not attitude—that makes all the difference in performance.

How many calls did you make to prospects?
How many follow-up calls did you make to customers?
How many referrals did you request?

Forget attitude—focus on behavior

Your Attitude Doesn’t Have to be Sparkly

Nobody’s attitude can be 100% every day. There are days when we feel a little “down,” and that’s okay. I remember reading a biography of Babe Ruth, the star baseball player. He said on days he didn’t feel well he had to play harder to make up for it. The Babe was one to focus on behavior. We control our level of activity. We aren’t always with our best attitude.

Surprise Yourself

If you focus on what you do—not how you feel—you’ll find that at the end of the month, you will have accomplished a lot on the days when you were “down” as well as the days when you were “up.” You may not tackle the task list with the same enthusiasm when you are having an “off” day. But great salespeople focus on behavior. And at the end of the day have achieved a lot.

Focus On Behavior

And tasks done well will affect your attitude. I remember one blustery, rainy day when I worked in Chicago. The weather forecast wasn’t going to get much better and the traffic conditions were terrible. I left with plenty of time to get to the first meeting with a new potential customer. They had invited several of us competitors to a pre-bid meeting for a new project. By the time I got to the company I was a few minutes late. Walking through the driving rain from my car to the office I must have looked like a drowned rat. The receptionist said I was the first to arrive, took my wet coat and hat and invited me to wait in the conference room. In a few minutes the purchaser arrived. We chatted for a few minutes over steaming mugs of coffee.

One by one the other invitees called to regret not being able to get to the meeting. As a result, the purchaser and I discussed the project, I got the details for which to prepare a proposal. Then he gave me the budget he had in mind for the project and said since I was committed enough to show up, assuming I could meet the budget we would get the business. For a day which started with a poor attitude doing the necessary behavior resulted in success and a wonderful change in attitude.

What You Can Do Right Now To Focus On Behavior

Don’t be preoccupied with your attitude.
Do the necessary behavior!
Enjoy the success for a job well done

To learn more sales secrets see Chapter Three, Being a Great Salesperson, in Secrets of the Softer Side of Selling. For even more sales encouragement, join our FREE Sales Club! “See” you next week.

Good selling!
Don Crawford

Got KPI?

05/24/2021 By Don Crawford Leave a Comment

KPI, Key Performance Indicators. All great salespeople understand what activities it takes to succeed. And they measure what they do to be sure they are on target. KPI’s are the score card salespeople use. So what are the key performance indicators for you?

Great Salespeople Track KPI
image from Pixabay

KPI In Selling

Selling is a numbers game. Great salespeople know the way to achieve the ultimate goal is to set and achieve activity-based goals. They have written goals and intermediate objectives. Activity-based goals are targets set on goal achieving actions the salesperson has control over. Great salespeople track their KPI. They know which activities pay off and how many times they need to do them to be successful. So here are the typical KPI’s for a salesperson tracked over a convenient time period: dollar value of sales, number of sales won, number of qualified prospects, success rate of appointment setting and number of prospect or customer contacts….

Sales Skill: Preparation, Practice and Performance

05/17/2021 By Don Crawford Leave a Comment

Hey there great salesperson, I know you are successful because you understand and use the 3-P approach to every sales call: Preparation, Practice and Performance. The 3-P approach gives salespeople the edge over the competition and leads to the sale. Whether it’s a one-call-close or a long sales cycle, use the 3-P’s at each customer contact.

Great salespeople do the 3-P's: Prepare, Practice, Perform

Use The 3-P’s To Be Awesome!
Image from Pixabay

Preparation

Closing the sale begins at the beginning. And that’s doing the research about the industry, the company and the person you will be meeting. Decision makers want to know you have done the research. What problems would their company have which you have solved for others? How does the prospect make buying decisions? Who is the decision maker and what drives them? These are some of the basic questions to be answered in doing research before the sales meeting….

Establish Your Mompreneur Lifestyle Today

05/03/2021 By Don Crawford Leave a Comment

The Softer Side of Selling is pleased to present a guest blog post by Leslie Campos at Wellparents.com, a mompreneur. Thanks Leslie for filling in while Don was on vacation! Not a mom looking to start or grow your own business? Show this article to someone you know who is.

Mompreneurs Rock!
Photo by Ketut Subiyanto from Pexels

Mompreneurs Rock!

Are you a mom with a dream of owning your own business? Do you have the motivation, skill, and work ethic required to take care of not only your children but also a company that, in some ways, is like a child unto itself? There’s no time like the present to get started with your own business and live that “mompreneur” life you’ve been dreaming of. Let’s take a look at how moms can start — and grow — their own sales business:

Choose your business model

Do you know what you want to sell? Maybe you make small crafts or knit blankets, or maybe you want to sell your skills as a tax preparation expert instead. Whatever your product or service, you need to make sure you can support it with good business practices. Becoming a successful mompreneur doesn’t happen overnight — it takes time, dedication, and a detailed business plan.

Your business model is, put simply, your plan for how your company is going to make money. In a more complicated sense, it’s a map of how value moves from you to your customers and back to you.

Form an LLC

Creating a limited liability company (LLC) is another business-related activity that you want to consider. LLCs offer several advantages to small-business owners, including pass-through taxes, personal asset protection, and flexibility when it comes to how your business should be run. Personal asset protection (i.e., limited personal liability) is especially important: Essentially, if someone wants to sue your company, your personal assets (e.g., house, car, etc.) cannot be taken from you.

Head over to https://www.virginiallc.net/ because a formation service allows you to avoid hefty lawyer fees. Just make sure you research the regulations in your state before moving ahead as rules can be different, depending on where you’re located.

Cultivate your selling skills

As you’re starting your business and getting your feet under you, you will want to make sure you build up several skills that will make your job easier in the long run. As an at-home salesperson, for instance, you need to be an expert at cold-calling potential customers — one of the things we’ll teach you at Secrets of the Softer Side of Selling. It may seem frightening but keeping your eye on the prize and picking up the phone to make initial contact is a great way to make sales.

Make a list of potential customers from your target demographic, write a script for what you’re going to say, and set aside several hours to make those calls. And if you don’t get many bites, don’t get discouraged — even one sale is better than zero!

Taking care of your whole life

Working from home is something else you will have to contend with — and working from home with kids at that. Taking care of your children and your business at the same time can sound like a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be scary. Set schedules, make to-do lists, and make sure your children know you’re working at certain times of the day (if they’re old enough to understand).

The elusive work/life balance doesn’t have to be so. The key here is setting boundaries and making sure everyone is respecting them — including you. Focusing separately on family and on work at different times of the day is important. Devoting half of yourself to one and half to the other leaves a lot to be desired on both sides. Instead, fully focus on each at different times. This becomes easier if you have a partner or babysitter to share the burden of watching your children, of course.

Another way to improve work/life balance (and get your much-needed nutrition for the week) is to meal prep on Sundays before the work week begins. This serves multiple purposes. First, you’re getting your meals (or lunches, at least) done so you don’t have to spend time during the week cooking. Second, preparing food has been known to have meditative benefits for some — so this can be a time for you to relax, as well.

No time like the present

The hardest part of getting started is just that — getting started. Take these tips and incorporate them into your plan for getting your business off the ground. Then, all that’s left is to take the plunge and create your successful sales business.

For more tips, tricks, and key tactics you can utilize on your journey in becoming a mompreneur and sales expert, visit Secrets of the Softer Side of Selling and join the sales club.

Thank you! Leslie Campos from Wellparents.com for this article. All you mompreneurs, contact Leslie here leslie.campos@wellparents.com with your questions and insights on starting your own business.

Sales Skill: Taking Time Off

04/26/2021 By Don Crawford Leave a Comment

So, great salesperson, are you wondering how taking time off is a sales skill? You ever heard of the saying: “When sales are good, you don’t want to take time off and when sales are bad you can’t take time off.”? So we just keep working until we are burned out, tired and no use to our customers, our company or our family.

Take time off to enjoy the fruits of your labor

Great Salespeople Know How To Take Time Off
Image by Pexels from Pixabay

The Benefit Of Taking Time Off

It’s the pause that refreshes. We all get tied up in doing the daily activities which make us successful. And for some it just becomes rote. When we pause, do something different for a while and relax our mind and body, we come back to work with renewed vigor. For me at the end of a couple of weeks, I’m ready to come back to work. I feel refreshed and eager for the challenge of growing sales.

How To Take Time Off

Yes, taking time off is a skill. Taking time off is not carrying your laptop with your and checking your cell phone frequently. So you have to plan for it:

Tell you customers and prospects you are going on vacation.
Let everyone you routinely interact with at your company know you will be away.
Arrange for a colleague to monitor your email and respond when they can or ask the customer for patience until you return.
If key events will happen while you are away, make sure they are covered.
Turn on an out of office message for your email explaining where you are, when you will return and how to handle urgent problems while you are away.
On your cell phone set up a message like your email out of office and use it when a customer calls.
I know you will respond to text messages as long as you have your cell phone with you. So answer them if you must. But don’t let them interfere with your fun time.
And leave word at your office that you are only available at certain times to handle those real crises. (My experience: if you ignore them someone will take care of them just fine.)

I’m off to the beach with my wife and three teenaged grandkids for a week. When is your next vacation and what will you do?

No sales pitch this week. I’m on vacation!

Good Time Off,

Don Crawford, aka Papaw

Your Most Important Sale: Me, Inc.

04/18/2021 By Don Crawford Leave a Comment

It’s that time of year when new college and high school graduates are looking to the most important sale: getting that great job. This year is a bit different as the economy opens up and many who were unemployed during the COVID pandemic are wanting to get back to work. And some of you are seeking a better job. Whatever the reason basic selling fundamentals can win you the job of your dreams.

the most important sale is the one you make to get your dream job

Use Sales Skills for ME, inc.
Image from Pixabay

Three Important Qualities of Me, Inc.

To make your most important sale you need attitude, behaviors and knowledge. Let’s look at each of these traits of a great salesperson.

Attitude

You must have a positive attitude to make your most important sale. Be confident but not cocky. Believe you will be hired. And be prepared at each step of the search process. Your attitude will be most obvious in the interview. Whether video, by phone or in person you need to be self-confident. Remember the company is interested in learning about you. And you are deciding whether you really want to work at the company….

Sales Skill: Achieving Goals

04/11/2021 By Don Crawford Leave a Comment

As great salespeople we are all achieving goals. How do we go about it? We focus on the most important task at the time. That important task is determined by the immediate goals we have for achieving the long-term goals. So we plan goal achieving activities. Next we perform them. Then we check to see whether we are achieving goals.

Great Salespeople Are Expert At Achieving Goals
Image from Pixabay

Achieving Goals Starts With A Vision

Pick a future time: 3 years, 5 years, 10 years. Where do you want to be personally and professionally then? This “vision” you have for the future is the basis for setting your goals. Great salespeople know goals must be realistic and measurable. You may want to double your sales in 3 years. If so you can measure current sales volume against previous to see the growth. If the market size is adequate for achieving your goal then it is realistic. As long as you know how to do it….