Tuesday, June 21, 2005
The Real Secret To Selling Success
If you want to be better you have to be different. Can you list the ways you're different from your competition? Not your company and not your products - how many ways are you different?
What are you doing that no one else is doing? Can't think of anything - well you'd better start thinking of some things.
Invest a solid hour in solo brainstorming - if you give it time you will be rewarded!
Jim Meisenheimer
Jim Meisenheimer is the No-Brainer Sales Training Guru.His sales techniques and selling skills focus on practical ideas that get immediate results. You can discover all his secrets by contacting him at (800) 266-1268 or e-mail: jim@meisenheimer.com
Use this link to sign-up for Jim's FREE No-Brainer Selling TipsNewsletter and to get your copy of my Special Report titled,"The 12 Dumbest Things Salespeople Do."http://www.meisenheimer.com
The Goal Is The Goal
The goal is too have goals!
Goals provide direction and give you the energy to achieve what it is you want to achieve - the goal.
Goals literally get you going. When done right the goals you establish will light a fire under your you-know-what.
You can't be a true success without at least thinking about goals.Why stop there? I estimate 87% of all salespeople actually do stop there. It's not enough to think about goals. Thinking doesn't create purpose. Thinking alone doesn't fuel the passion needed to accomplish your goals.
Thinking about goals is commonplace and ordinary.
Doing is extraordinary.
Doing the right things right, beats the crap out of ordinary thinking- everyday of the week.
Do you have goals? Are you certain? If not why not? Please don't give me another "Alibi Ike" excuse - as a sales trainer I've heard them all.
Are all of your professional and personal goals in writing?
If not, why not? Dig deep for a genuine reason.
Nothing written, nothing committed to paper, nothing at all concrete . . . and you expect to be successful. Please get a life.
Are all of your goals specific, which means do they include numbers? For example - my goal is to increase sales by 27.5%.
Do your written goals have specific completion dates - for example, my goal is to increase sales 27.5% by November 30, 2005?
If your goals aren't in writing, not specific enough, and don't have completion dates - you're in denial and you don't measure up as a legitimate goal setter.
No athlete likes to admit he/she is out of shape. Likewise, no professional salesperson wants to admit he/she doesn't have goals.
Well, you either do or you don't. Now that you have defined criteria - you be the judge, it's not for me to do.
Well constructed goals will propel and catapult you to a much higher level of success. Poorly constructed goals simply give you the opportunity to complain and explain and point fingers at all the people who got in your way, at your next "Pity Me Party."
When you establish magnetic goals you're ready to ask this very dynamic question:
What do I have to do to achieve this goal? This becomes a necessary"How To Step."
What do I have to do to achieve this goal? This becomes another necessary "How To Step."
What do I have to do to achieve this goal? This becomes still another necessary "How To Step."
What do I have to do to achieve this goal? This becomes even another necessary "How To Step."
Keeping listing your "How To Steps" until you're thoroughly satisfied that if you completed all your "How To Steps" you'd have a 90% probability of achieving your goal. This system really works.
Here's the simple version of the formula:
Goals + a list of "How To Steps" = Success or (Goal achievement)
Why not apply this system to your prospecting efforts. You can't develop new business without setting a prospecting goal. If you have a goal for new business this year, do you have a goal for how you're going to get that new business? I'm talking about a prospecting goal?
Prospecting is the activity that can most quickly help you to build your pipeline and bring in new business, but it's also the most distasteful activity for most salespeople.
It's human nature to dislike rejection. However, I find that most sales reps actually CREATE rejection because of some dumb things theysay at the beginning of phone calls. Further, because of a lack ofconfidence in what they say on the phone, they avoid calling. It doesn't need to be that way.
Here's how you can cold call WITHOUT rejection. My friend, ArtSobczak, the top telesales expert in the country can give you proven, how-to, conversational strategies and word-for-word techniques to make your cold calling easier, help you avoid the most common mistakes made by 90% of all sales reps, and bottom line, help bring in more new business for you!
I just talked to Art and he still has a few spots remaining in his popular two-day Telesales College seminar next week, 6/21-22 inChicago. You will actually build your own successful prospecting call.Even if you can't attend, get the CD's of a program, or, at the very minimum, get Art's Telephone Prospecting and Selling Report newsletter, and his free e-mail newsletter.
Right now, end your prospecting woes forever.
Go tohttp://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/aftrack.asp?afid=66549
Well constructed goals force you to act on your "How To Steps." These"How To Steps" keep you focused on achieving your goals - one step at a time. When you use this system, achieving your goals (Professionaland personal) is a No-Brainer.
FYI - I'm busy at work developing the Ultimate No-Brainer Goal SettingSystem - a 12 month program designed to help you establish and achieveyour (Professional and personal) goals. Rest assured, when it'sfinished, I'll tell you more about it.
Make everyday a MASTERPIECE . . .
Jim Meisenheimer
PS 1 - WOW - thanks to all sales managers for the tremendous response to my Sales Management Inner Circle Coaching Program. In case you were too busy putting out fires last week, and didn't see this, youcan see all the benefits using this link:http://www.meisenheimer.com/sales_coaching/individual.shtml
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Special note to new salespeople: I remember when I first started in sales and thought I couldn't possibly afford self-development educational materials - boy was I ever wrong. I really believe, the people who are the most successful today, couldn't afford what they bought when they bought it. Here's the link again in case you change your mind: http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/adtrack.asp?AdID=146547
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
How To Become A Better Sales Manager
YIPPEE! Kendra won, or should I say, "She was hired," by the "Donald." It was no surprise to me. It was all about people and management skills. You either have them or you don't! Kendra had them and Tana, sad to say, didn't.
The shenanigans you watched during the "Apprentice" show are perfect examples of what not to do if you want to become an effective and respected sales manager.
Enough about that . . .
Today, being a sales manager, is a tough job - and it can also be extremely rewarding. Here's what I find bizarre. There are too many under trained sales managers trying to coach and develop their under trained salespeople. It's not a pretty picture.
What do you think happens when that happens? Right - nothing much happens.
Last week I went to Chicago to conduct a one half-day sales training program. After completing the program in Chicago I was off to Las Vegas to do a comprehensive two-day sales training program.
I'm sitting in an aisle seat (9D) on American Airlines flight #1417. Once I settled in I exchanged hellos with the guy sitting next to me. I asked, "What kind of work do you do?"
He says, "I'm a sales manager" and proceeds to tell me about his company, his responsibilities, and some of his problems.
After a while he asks me, "What about you - what kind of work do you do?"
I gave him my prepared elevator speech, "I coach and train salespeople and sales managers on how to increasesales, earn more money, have more fun, and how to do it all in less time."
He says, "You coach sales managers, man could I ever use a coach!"
I said, "What do you mean?" He said, "One day I'm a very successful sales representative and the next day I'm a sales manager."
He continues and says "Hey, I wanted this job - it was a dream come true for me." Along with the promotion I got the standard "Hit the road Jack kind of attitude from my company."
"It wasn't mean-spirited, just a go figure-it-out for yourself kind of an attitude."
I asked him one of my favorite questions - a question that uncovers specific problems. I said, "Keith, as a sales manager, what are some of the biggest challenges you're dealing with now?"
He said, "You got an hour to hear them all?" I took some notes while he was talking and here's a list of what he said he needed help with:
Recruiting
Interviewing
Planning
Time management
Coaching
Motivation
Planning a dynamite sales meeting
Strategic account plans
Measuring performance
Setting goals that get results
Leadership
Self confidence
I said, "That's quite a list."
He says, "My wife thinks I'm nuts for taking the sales management position."
She says, "You're working longer hours, you're always stressed out, and you're always thinking about work."
Well, I'm not going to bore you with any more of the details of that conversation - but Keith seems to be the perfect candidate for my just released Sales Management Coaching Program.
After I explained the program and all of its benefits to Keith he perked up and said, "Sign me up!"
You can use this link to see the complete Sales Management Coaching package - it will take only 118 seconds to read.http://www.meisenheimer.com/sales_coaching/individual.shtml
If you're a sales representative please forward this to every sales manager you know, who wants to become the best they can be in their role as sales manager.
If you're a sales manager, take a close look in the mirror and ask yourself, "How am I doing as a sales manager?"
If you want to achieve superior results as a sales manager you'll have to have superior sales management skills at your fingertips.
Years ago, some of the best advice I never took was "You can't succeed alone." It took me a long time to buy into this very simple concept. Today I belong to a Mastermind group that meets every three months. We've been doing this for five years now.
During the same five years I have hired three different coaches to help me grow different parts of my business. Personally, I have always found an immediate payback with the coaches I've hired.
For me, the results have been truly amazing and incredibly rewarding.
Here's the link again to see the complete package.http://www.meisenheimer.com/sales_coaching/individual.shtml
Enough about sales management . . .
It's time to start thinking about the second-half of 2005.
Here are a few practical selling tips:
1. Prepare a list of what worked for you during the first half of 2005.
2. Prepare a list of what didn't work for you during the first half of 2005.
3. Prepare a written list of goals (Make them specific) that you want to achieve during the second half of 2005 - professional and personal.
4. For each written goal prepare a list of strategies that describes in considerable detail how you are planning to achieve each goal.
5. Identify the one thing that's holding you back from achieving phenomenal success. Be honest with yourself! Then, immerse yourself in a self-development program to convert this weakness into a personal strength.
This is not an exercise in futility. Actually, it's an exercise designed to help you achieve the personal growth and development you need to take your business to the next level.
If dealing with time management is an issue for you, my Audio Book "57 Ways To Take Control Of Your Time And Your Life" includes 57 creative ideas on how you can, once again, take control of your time and more importantly your
life.Use this link for more information about the audio book and to see the extra stuff I'm including: http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/adtrack.asp?AdID=143021
Now go out and outsell and outsmart your competition . . .
Jim Meisenheimer is the No-Brainer Sales Training Guru.His sales techniques and selling skills focus on practical ideas that get immediate results. You can discover all his secrets by contacting him at (800) 266-1268 or e-mail: jim@meisenheimer.com
Use this link to sign-up for Jim's FREE No-Brainer Selling TipsNewsletter and to get your copy of my Special Report titled,"The 12 Dumbest Things Salespeople Do."http://www.meisenheimer.com
