Is it positive or negative?
Will 2017 be any better than 2016? It will be if you take responsibility for your own success in sales.
The political, economic and social problems that disrupted everyday life in 2016 have not all disappeared simply because it is a new year. The chances are good that this type of disruption will continue in 2017 and perhaps for a few more years to come.
Gone are the days when salespeople could sit it out until things improved.
You and I cannot control the outcome nor do much about turning the economy around but what we can do is focus all our efforts on what we are good at and what we do best, SELLING!
Start by creating your own economy. Sales is one of the few professions where we can do exactly that. Instead of worrying about the economy being bad and preventing you from achieving your sales targets, create your own economy to work in, I.E. your sales pipeline!
Focus all your energy on the numbers and activity that is required to achieve success in sales. (Phone calls, appointments, quotes / proposals, follow ups, closing)
There are too many people in sales who should not be in sales. If you are not prepared to work hard, stick to the basics, follow a sales process, continually work on improving your knowledge and skills then you shouldn’t be in sales.
Learn to love what you do. Focus on building good sloid relationships with your customers. Look for ways to help your customers grow and improve their business.
Be positive, give good advice and add value to the relationship that you have with your customers. Be someone who your customers want to meet with and not someone who they fob off because they haven’t got time to waste on meaningless meetings and chit chats: “Hi, it’s me again, just popping in to see how things are going. If there’s anything you need just give me a call, you’ve got my card, see you next week”.
Rather have a positive and meaningful approach to interacting with your customers. “Good morning, it’s nice to meet you. The reason for my visit today is ……..” or if it’s a regular once a week meeting ““Good morning, it’s nice to see you again, what I want to discuss with you today is ……..”
Get to the point. Customers haven’t got time to waste on meeting with salespeople who don’t’ add value to their business.
Create interesting “sales conversations”. Ask open ended questions. Find out what problems your customers are looking to solve and then give them good advice on how your product / service will help them to achieve that.
Make all of your calls and meetings on purpose and with a plan. Differentiate yourself from all the other average salespeople that your customers are meeting with every day.
Believe in your product, believe in your company and believe in yourself.
And remember: If you are going to be in sales, Learn to love what you do!
Related Tag: Phone Sales Training.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
© 2019 Ray Patterson. All materials, images and contents contained herein are the intellectual property of Ray Patterson and may not be copied, reproduced, distributed, displayed, adapted or modified without Ray Patterson’s express permission. Any unauthorized copying, reproduction, distribution, display, adaptation or modification will amount to copyright infringement.