Keeping focused on opportunity and self-growth
Do these excuses sound familiar?
* I can't get him on the phone.
* She won't return my calls.
* He won't give me an appointment.
* I overslept. I forgot. I didn't write it down. No one told me.
* She didn't show for our appointment.
* I can't get him to commit.
Wah, wah, wah. Woe is you.
Is it a circumstance beyond your control, or was it just a problem getting a customer or prospect to return your call? Big deal. It seems to me that it's harder to invent excuses than it is to get the sale.
Good salespeople need to be focused.
Focus leads one in the direction of the sale. It creates intensity, desire and commitment. Focused energy provides the drive you need to follow through and win (make the sale) in a competitive market. Face it, the days of the easy sale are gone. Competition is so strong, and sometimes it can cause you to rethink your career or position.
Here are seven things you can do to keep the focus, intensity, drive and commitment necessary to change your direction from woe is me to whoa, what a sale!
1. Stop blaming circumstances for your situation. It's not the rain or the car or the phone or the product, it's you. You have a choice in everything you do. Choose a better way. Don't blame the path - change the path. Don't blame the situation - change the situation.
2. Stop blaming other people for your situation. Take responsibility for yourself and your actions. If you are consistently blaming other people, guess what? It's not them.
3. Know your customer or prospect better. It is just as powerful to prevent problems as it is to handle them. If you can't get the prospect on the phone, it's your fault for not knowing the best time to reach him. Know the right time to call, know when a decision is to be made. Confirm every commitment.
4. Persist until you gain an answer. A prospect will respect a tenacious salesperson. If it takes five to ten exposures to make a sale, do you have what it takes to hang in there? Even if it's "no," at least you know where you stand.
5. Know where you are, or where you should be. Manage your time. Go out to lunch with a customer, not a friend. Keep perfect records. Know enough about your prospect or customer that follow up becomes easy, fun. Are you organized enough to get to the tenth exposure and have the situation under control enough to make the sale?
6. Work on your skills every day. You can never read enough educational books or listen to enough tapes. I challenge you to do it for an hour a day. One hour a day, seven days a week for one year is equal to more than nine full weeks of work. Think about what you could be doing to improve your focus and knowledge-base the next time you mindlessly turn on the television.
7. Become solution-oriented. Instead of griping or wallowing in your problems, why not spend the same amount of time working on solutions? I have found that being solution-oriented has done more for me and my path to success than any single philosophy. Every obstacle presents an opportunity - if you're looking for it. If you're too busy concentrating on the problem, the opportunity will pass you by.
You have been given a bag of cement and a bucket of water. You can either build a stepping stone, or a stumbling block. The choice is (and always has been) yours.
Next week: When bad sales happen to good people.
* I can't get him on the phone.
* She won't return my calls.
* He won't give me an appointment.
* I overslept. I forgot. I didn't write it down. No one told me.
* She didn't show for our appointment.
* I can't get him to commit.
Wah, wah, wah. Woe is you.
Is it a circumstance beyond your control, or was it just a problem getting a customer or prospect to return your call? Big deal. It seems to me that it's harder to invent excuses than it is to get the sale.
Good salespeople need to be focused.
Focus leads one in the direction of the sale. It creates intensity, desire and commitment. Focused energy provides the drive you need to follow through and win (make the sale) in a competitive market. Face it, the days of the easy sale are gone. Competition is so strong, and sometimes it can cause you to rethink your career or position.
Here are seven things you can do to keep the focus, intensity, drive and commitment necessary to change your direction from woe is me to whoa, what a sale!
1. Stop blaming circumstances for your situation. It's not the rain or the car or the phone or the product, it's you. You have a choice in everything you do. Choose a better way. Don't blame the path - change the path. Don't blame the situation - change the situation.
2. Stop blaming other people for your situation. Take responsibility for yourself and your actions. If you are consistently blaming other people, guess what? It's not them.
3. Know your customer or prospect better. It is just as powerful to prevent problems as it is to handle them. If you can't get the prospect on the phone, it's your fault for not knowing the best time to reach him. Know the right time to call, know when a decision is to be made. Confirm every commitment.
4. Persist until you gain an answer. A prospect will respect a tenacious salesperson. If it takes five to ten exposures to make a sale, do you have what it takes to hang in there? Even if it's "no," at least you know where you stand.
5. Know where you are, or where you should be. Manage your time. Go out to lunch with a customer, not a friend. Keep perfect records. Know enough about your prospect or customer that follow up becomes easy, fun. Are you organized enough to get to the tenth exposure and have the situation under control enough to make the sale?
6. Work on your skills every day. You can never read enough educational books or listen to enough tapes. I challenge you to do it for an hour a day. One hour a day, seven days a week for one year is equal to more than nine full weeks of work. Think about what you could be doing to improve your focus and knowledge-base the next time you mindlessly turn on the television.
7. Become solution-oriented. Instead of griping or wallowing in your problems, why not spend the same amount of time working on solutions? I have found that being solution-oriented has done more for me and my path to success than any single philosophy. Every obstacle presents an opportunity - if you're looking for it. If you're too busy concentrating on the problem, the opportunity will pass you by.
You have been given a bag of cement and a bucket of water. You can either build a stepping stone, or a stumbling block. The choice is (and always has been) yours.
Next week: When bad sales happen to good people.
