SoldLab Recommends: 7 Steps for Prospecting Success by Kelley Robertson.
Want to prospect effectively? Read this cover story of the March Sold Magazine issue by a famous sales trainer Kelley Robertson on page 18 at http://www.soldlab.com/sales-magazine
There is a simple formula to being successful in sales, and in everything else for that matter. It’s not a complicated formula.
Sales Success Formula
HW(2)+K+S+L=S (hard work x 2 + Knowledge + Skills + Luck = Success)
SURPRISE! The key to success is hard work.
The biggest part of this formula is hard work. It’s not what we know, or the skills we have, or how lucky we are that has the biggest impact on how much success we have, it’s how hard we work.
I learned this lesson in my first real job. I was sales rep at the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.
In my previous post (Mind-control in Selling) I was talking about how selling is fundamentally a question of the influence of mind over mind, and how the formula for developing a mind control is very simple. It is a study of the five senses and the manner in which they influence the mind, and a constant effort to apply in practice what you have learned.
You have learned, in the early grades at school, that the five senses are sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. These five senses may be called the avenues to the mind. It is impossible for any sensation to reach the objective mind except through one of the five senses.
We all know how frustrating it is when a sales opportunity we’ve been working on suddenly stalls out. Our instinctive response is to begin thinking of ways to accelerate the prospect’s decision about the sale, usually by offering some financial incentive (a discount). Paradoxically, this often has the opposite effect. The prospect senses your eagerness, which may be perceived as desperation, making you less attractive, and causing a further delay in purchasing your product or service. Is there a better way?
The telephone is your lifeline to sales.
Technology comes and goes but the phone will likely be your lifeline to revenue for decades to come. If the phone is one of our primary modes of engaging the marketplace, why do so many sales professionals perform so poorly on this stage?
Selling is about connecting and engaging with the other party. Your sales quota may be stressful, but there’s rarely gain in exposing that to your prospect.
Salespeople won’t always get the call back, get the appointment, get to meet the decision maker, or get the order. Now it is, of course, unreasonable to expect to always get what we want. But, it is reasonable to believe that we might get what we want more often if we changed the way we asked for it. The sad fact is that one of the reasons we struggle to get sales results is because we simply don’t ask for what we want - or we don’t ask for it directly. Here are five types of questions that few salespeople ask that can move the sales cycle along and help you achieve your goals.
I love everything about sales and the psychology of selling and I read as much as I can on the subject. I always have a book with me to learn from, to inspire me and to keep me on the sales edge so that I am constantly refining the processes and strategies that I teach in my books, audios, DVDs and seminars…
As you might expect I am not particularly squeamish when it comes to closing people down however over the last few nights I have been reading a book on closing written in the mid-1980’s. It is appalling and what’s more some of the tactics in it are based on the cheesiest of theories. Here’s one tip from the sales training book…
How much time do you spend texting clients versus talking with them or meeting face-to-face? This month, I share five reasons why I believe texting isn’t an effective strategy for selling today.
Texting Is Just Plain Anti-Social
Okay, I have a rant coming on…I’m not crazy about texting. I think it’s nuts how people endanger their lives and others’ lives by driving and texting. I mean it’s fine for short messages (when standing still), but overall it’s just plain anti-social and creates an environment where people forget how to talk, interact, and connect with other humans and find comfort in hiding behind the buttons. The other day I was watching four people I assumed were...Read more at http://www.soldlab.com/selling-and-texting/
How to generate leads more effectively? Does cold calling still have any value in today’s business? If you are desperately searching for the answers to these questions – then the NEW August Edition of SOLD is a five star publication for you! Learn the secrets of prospecting and more from the best sales experts of the world. The mag is iPad, Iphone or Ipod compatible. http://www.soldlab.com/free-magazine/