The Double Your Income formula - sort of

Want to double your income? "Show me the money!" you scream. No, show me you are willing to work hard to get better. "Show me the money!" You scream. You don't get it. Most salespeople (not you, of course) are not willing to do the hard work it takes to make selling easy. PLUS, most salespeople already know everything. They already THINK they know the answers, because they "TRIED that before and it didn't work." Business lore says that Edison tried and failed more than 1,000 times before inventing a light bulb that worked. Many salespeople quit after the third failure. Most, however quit after the first or two failures.

Suppose Edison decided to quit after failure number 753? No way - he was on a mission. A mission of success. What mission are you on? Most salespeople are on the "quota" or "sales plan" mission. Make a certain "number of sales" by some period of time - usually month and year. I wish there was ONE plan that said create 100 solid relationships this year or earn 100 unsolicited referrals this year or keep 100% of your existing customers loyal this year. The "relationship-loyalty" mission is the only long-term plan that will lead to success.

The meat OK, so much for the soapbox. Here's the meat: Last week I presented the first part of the formula for doubling sales. NOTE: Miss part one last week? Go to www.gitomer.com (register if you're a first-time user) and type MISSED PART ONE in the GitBit box - there it is. This "How to Succeed in Sales" formula will help clarify your philosophy and strategy of selling. Once you realize that you "sell to help" instead of "selling to total up your commissions," sales success will be yours. Part one last week was "The Action-Formula." Part two this week is "The Realities and the Strategies." Please don't be confused by it's simplicity - this list just makes it seem simple - the fact is: Selling ain't easy. I'm going to give you the "Realities and Strategies of Sales Success" - your job is to make an implementation plan for each one … " Get and stay likeable. The customer buys you FIRST. Sell yourself BEFORE you try to sell your company or your product.

" Make a list of what you say you do that your competition does NOT say they do. There is NOTHING on the list. In other words, get creative and say something new. HINT: Add new questions that your competition doesn't ask.

" There are NO new objections - get rid of them. Make a list of the objections you hear over and over (not interested, happy with present supplier, price too high, no budget, send me a proposal and so many more) and figure out answers that win, and use those instead of the ones you're using.

" Get the prospect hot for you. Make a copy of your traditional customer "hot list" then ask yourself the question "hot for whom?" Make a list of prospects that are hot to do business with you - smaller list.

" Try it as soon as you learn it. After you listen to a strategy or sales technique, try to use it within the hour. Listening followed by doing leads to mastery.

" Modify what you learn - adapt it to your personality. Don't do it the way I do it - do it the way it suits your personality and style. Be yourself.

" Adapt what you learn to your product or service. Not all sales information is about what you sell. So what? Just figure out how what they teach applies to you and try that.

" Get and keep a positive attitude by studying attitude every morning. The secret of attaining attitude is reading for 15 minutes every morning. I've been doing it for 25 years and so far it's working.

" Join Toastmasters. An hour a week about how to get better at presentation skills. Your presentation skills are as important as your sales skills. Go to www.toastmasters.org and find the club nearest you.

" Stay a student - if possible a humble student. The best way to become a master at what you do is to combine "study" with "practice" for the rest of your life.

" The daily dose. You can't do it all at once (no Vulcan mind-meld here, Spock) but you can do a little each day. Everyone knows "an apple a day" but very few follow the advice. If you just do a little each day, at the end of a year it adds up to a lot. If you do nothing each day - at the end of the year that adds up to nothing. You don't get great at sales in a day - you get great at sales day by day.

NOTE: Wait a few months and I'll probably write an implementation plan for each element. So relax - you can sit back and wait for Jeffrey to provide all the answers - and in the meantime the only people that will beat you are the one's who do it on their own. Hope they're not your competition.

Jeffrey Gitomer is author of "The Sales Bible" and "Customer Satisfaction is Worthless, Customer Loyalty is Priceless." President of North Carolina-based Buy Gitomer, he gives seminars, runs annual sales meetings and conducts training programs on selling and customer service. He can be e-mailed at salesman@gitomer.com.