Every day, hundreds of new salespeople join the ranks full of excitement and energy. Soon they feel overwhelmed and a little confused. Do I really have to pick up the phone and call someone and ask them to buy from me? Why can’t I wait until the time is right for me to call them? I need to know more right now before I can call them. Don’t we have buyers already that you can assign to me?
As experienced salespeople and sales managers we’ve heard it all. I have cringed more times than I ever should have when the excuses started flowing. I hate excuses and I have no solution for them except not to tolerate them. Here are some ways that you can avoid any questionable outcomes and minimize the excuses:
- Establish how a successful salesperson’s day, week, month, and year would look. Make sure to cover all the parts of the success including the behaviors needed to accomplish the success.
- Develop a set of specific behaviors that they must complete daily to accomplish their goals each and every day. These might include cold/warm calls (you should never make a cold call with all the information and social media out there), networking events, training, and product knowledge.
- A specific process that can be duplicated to create leads and opportunities. Again, a process they can use that is proven to generate leads. If you know what it is and have never put it down on paper, now’s the time. It will also give you a time to reflect on the process and make changes in it. New salespeople unfortunately have no ability to create the “best” process in your business. This one is on you.
- Lead generation tools such as monthly events, newsletters, and the ability to capture website visitors. A simple white paper on a general topic maybe enough to gain contact information for your business. Remember, any contact with your company is an opportunity for sales. Capture these opportunities!
- Create a standard of excellence for all levels of sales in your company. This will communicate your expectations and will also establish targets for the new salespeople to strive. Be specific as to the expectations; you’ll find out clearly who can cut it by the first 90 days. Never hold on to the ones who can’t meet your standards.
- Review, adjust and make your cuts. Be consistent, be thorough, and make your cuts quickly. Your future is hanging by your ability to make decisions!
Take a moment and reflect on the hiring of new salespeople. Is it better to hire someone with great upside, or will it always be better to hire experienced people? In my many years of work, I have only been able to hire the best person at the competition 2 times. I guess I’m batting .250. I make sure that I only target a limited number of the competitor’s best. 8 is enough in this case.
A well thought out plan to hire and train is your best option. Duplicate, duplicate, duplicate.
Jan 10
22
Create Clarity in Everything You Do
Are you “Clear” about what you want in your life?
Every day we get up out of bed and start our day usually with our assigned tasks from family, work or any one of the many influences in our life. These tasks always consume us and then give us either satisfaction or stress. Controlling these tasks is the first step in “Creating our Future”.
Having a well defined strategy to start each day is paramount to Creating Change and beginning to Define Your Path. Clarity is not easy; time tells us that each day we are exposed to an information overload. I can tell you that it will never stop in our lifetimes. Our ability to focus on the important items in our lives will be a determining factor in our ability to reach our ongoing goals.
Here are some items you can do today to generate new and exciting “Clarity” for your day:
1. Define your day not today, but yesterday. You must know in advance what you want to get accomplished tomorrow by the time you go to sleep each night. By having this step accomplished, you’ll reduce the stress each and every night and therefore you’ll sleep better.
2. Have an action plan each and everyday. Action plans are essential in the creation of “Clarity” by reminding us about what is most important each and every day. The most important actions are always at the top. Your values will drive these items to the top each and every day.
3. Know the result you desire. Everyday you should have your desired results at the top of your mind. Doing this helps you maintain focus each and every day. Focus equals ”Clarity”. Focus is the pathway to change.
These are just a few thoughts for you to consider.
Great todays began yesterday!
Jack
Dec 09
29
Welcome to the New Normal in 2010!
Welcome to 2010
Are you ready? Here’s some thoughts for the upcoming year:
- If you’re not being creative, stop working and start thinking. Then take action. Massive Action!
- Make solid plans that you can follow with deliberate action steps well thought out and researched.
- This year will result in the new “normal” in our lives. Act accordingly.
- Consider every action as one that will enhance your life. Make everything count for something.
Good luck in 2010!
Jack
Posted in goal setting goals sales development by .
Are you making great choices?
What choices have you made today that will affect your future?
We get to make hundreds of choices each week. Some are simple: What color shirt will I wear? Others are more significant: Should I call the doctor about this pain in my chest? All are part of our life.
Becoming deliberate about the choices we make is the first step to gaining control over the results we can expect in the future. All of our daily choices define who we currently are and who we desire to become. We get to make other choices that are significant in our life each day. These choices make us grow into who we will become. We can choose our outcomes by carefully making our choices.
Significant choices that can affect our future are:
- Control over our money
- Making a decision to exercise
- Opening a business
- Spending more time with your family
- Making one more sales call each day
The most important part of our choices each day is the choice to become deliberate. Become deliberate in your choices and the future is determined by you!
Consider your future: Make it real today!
Posted in goal setting by .
Dec 09
7
I never said it would be easy!
I never said it would be easy.
Have you ever started a new project and for some reason thought that it would be easy? I can almost guess what happened next; it was much harder than you expected and a sense of surprise came over you.
Selling is hard. Prospecting is hard. Keeping up with everything you need to just complete your job is hard. Juggling the time bandits in your life is hard. Just look at the number of Mom’s that carry smart phones or day planners just to keep up with their kid’s schedules. My 9 year old even has a planner and there are times he looks at his work and decides which homework assignment to do first.
Making a commitment to do your best is easy. The tools you need are right at fingertips. Here are some items you can do to help get control of this part of your life:
- Make it a point to stop and think at some part of the day. I have about a 20 minute commute each way so I can use that to clear my head as required.
- Learn to say “NO”. Just do it and make sure you never have any regrets. It is not necessary that you please everyone; it’s only important that you are fair.
- Never let the urgent replace the important. The urgent will take over your life. Think about this; Have you ever dropped everything and gone to a client’s location only to find out that the urgent was really nothing? Keep the important first in your life; nothing else will matter more.
- Use a scheduling system that works for you. Whatever you choose is fine but make sure that you use it. Some system is better than no system. Research systems like Day Timer and Franklin and see if they will help.
Finally, make every action in your day “Deliberate”. If the important is truly important, then why would anything else be able to replace it at the top of the list?
Jack
Dec 09
4
Be Confident in Your Process
Do you understand your processes?
We mostly function as creature of habit. Everyday things such as the way we talk or the amount of sugar in our coffee; all come from a simple ritual in our head. That ritual is a never ending process that is used over and over again. It is also very tough to change. Try facilitating change even in your own environment! It a painful process.
By understanding our processes and really what makes us tick, we can then get started on the change that will move us forward in our life. The first step is understanding; then re-directing the process to align with our goals and dreams.
After all is said and done, the challenge for us is that we must develop confidence in our process. Think of a pro golfer. Most of them have processes or rituals that they go through before every round, every shot, or every putt. We as amateurs never develop the rituals that gives us the confidence in our process. I hit the ball well, but I would never hit a 300 yard drive every time. Maybe 1 in 10!
Develop your processes in alignment with your goals and dreams and you’ll develop confidence that will never be shattered.
Jack
Eliminate your “Limiting Beliefs“…
To minimize your Limiting Beliefs, you must become an active participant in you life! Limiting Beliefs are the little statements that we’ve heard all of our lives. These statements might include…
- You’ll never make that team
- They will never buy from you
- You can’t open that business; you know nothing about that business
These statements are told to us over and over again through out our lives. We hear them so many times that they begin to take up space in minds and begin to replace things like Hope. We need to expand Hope in our minds and eliminate the negatives.
Here are some things you can do to expand Hope and clear out negative thoughts.
- Write down your “Limiting Beliefs” each morning that you felt on the day before. Be real with yourself.
- Create a game plan for today that defeats these same beliefs. They will come back today again. You must keep focused on the important things in your life.
- Eliminate the negative influences at work. Tell them goodbye. When the office complainer comes by, get up and leave. Tell them to just go away.
- Let your partner know what you are doing. They must be part of your support system.
- Evaluate each day the progress you are making eliminating your “Limiting Beliefs”. Take massive action to change the outcome.
Start your change: Expect more, demand more. From yourself!
Jack
