Tag: sales workshops

Categories
Sales & Marketing

Increasing Sales and Productivity: Action and Fundamentals

Article Contributed by Sharpenz

We recently surveyed dozens of sales managers about tools and solutions they use to help their sales teams be more productive and successful in selling. When I analyzed these expert sales managers’ feedback, the key ingredient or “secret” to high sales productivity is ACTION!

Ernest Hemingway said, “Never mistake motion for action.” This is so true in sales! We can be in motion but not going anywhere. Action means productively moving forward.

The activities of planning, preparation, research, reworking value propositions, and putting together effective presentations are all important. But without action with clients or prospects, those activities are insignificant.

Successful sales professionals take action when others don’t and actions that others won’t.

The sales professionals we work with to increase selling skills intellectually agree with the tools, steps and behaviors we outline and practice. What makes the difference in results is that the most successful people immediately put these ideas, skills and tools into action in sales calls. And they make sales. The others make excuses why they couldn’t use them, get caught up in busy work and then are surprised when sales don’t happen.

Another important aspect of success and sales performance is focusing on the fundamentals.

Michael Jordan, undeniably a long-term example for sports performance, said, “You have to monitor your fundamentals constantly because the only thing that changes will be your attention to them.  The fundamentals will never change.”

The same is true in our professional business careers: if we want to increase our sales productivity, we need to give attention to the fundamentals of great communication, preparation and follow-up.  These are timeless, universal fundamentals.

Want to increase your sales results and success?  It’s really not a secret after all…move beyond activities that are just motion. Take purposeful and consistent action and focus on the fundamentals!

What selling fundamentals or action can you take today to set yourself up for success this week? Let us know in the Comments section. Now, “Just do it”!

About the Author:

Sharpenz is dedicated to providing sales managers the resources and tools they need to energize, engage and equip their sales team to sell more each week. Our 30-minute power sales booster meetings help companies increase sales by providing the right tools and training – fast. Designed with the busy manager in mind, Sharpenz ready-to-go sales training kits will give your sales team the opportunity to grow and earn more – all in a half hour of power.  To learn more, visit www.sharpenz.com and sign up for your free ready-to-go sales training kit today!

Categories
Communication Skills

Focus on the WIIFT for a Powerful Presentation

Article Contributed by Sharpenz

A while back I had the opportunity to work for nearly two days with the best-of-the-best sales pros in a client company. We spent our time together focused on taking their game up another notch with a workshop titled “Powerful Presentations.” One thing I noted is that really successful people generally are very open to new ideas and skills that will allow them to be even more successful!

A key idea I shared in this workshop was that our sales presentations are more powerful when we focus on WIIFT – What’s in it for Them – from the open of the presentation through the close.

To engage your audience, it’s incredibly important to tie the message about YOU into what it means to THEM. Who wants to listen to 10 or 15 minutes of background on the speaker and their company? Do you really care if they have been in business for over 75 years? About three minutes into the “background” about you, they have disengaged – you can see it in their body language. Instead, focus on WHY it is beneficial to them that your company has been in business so long. Will it mean a better product? Or more expertise that will solve a problem for them?

Initially there were some skeptics in the group who weren’t sure the WIIFT was THAT important. Until the first practice presentations began and each professional had to sit through all the other presentations. Being on the other side allowed them to feel what its’ like to have a lot of information shared AT them and not tied specifically TO them.

As we ended the workshop, these successful sales professionals commented that it IS powerful to make our message not about us – but that it is hard to do! The more successful and experienced we are, the harder it may be to do something different. To send a message adapted to our audience, with only enough detail that is important to them and then to link WHAT we do into WIIFT statements is not easy. But it is worth the effort for an engaged audience!

How much effort does it take to link the WHAT of your message to the WIIFT? Post your comments and let the rest us know we are not alone!

About the Author:

Sharpenz is dedicated to providing sales managers the resources and tools they need to energize, engage and equip their sales team to sell more each week. Our 30-minute power sales booster meetings help companies increase sales by providing the right tools and training – fast. Designed with the busy manager in mind, Sharpenz ready-to-go sales training kits will give your sales team the opportunity to grow and earn more – all in a half hour of power.  To learn more, visit www.sharpenz.com and sign up for your free ready-to-go sales training kit today!

Categories
Planning & Management

Multi-tasking: How to Take the “Crazy” Out of Crazy Busy

Article Contributed by Sharpenz

If you consider yourself a “multi-tasker” and often reply “crazy busy” when people ask you how you’re doing, then you should listen up. A recent analysis from the business research firm Basex, estimates that extreme multi-tasking costs the US more than $650 billion a year in lost productivity.

So what can we do to minimize multi-tasking and get more done? We recently came across two sources for ideas:

1. The Power of Focus for Women, a book by Fran and Les Hewitt, presents 10 focusing strategies. Many of the ideas are not just for women. Les adds a man’s perspective at the end of each chapter.

2. Business advisor and author, Timothy Ferris of  The 4-Hour Workweek. Now his philosophy is definitely Gen-Y – and many of us baby boomers consider it radical. And yet, as we read through his ideas and blog at the fourhourworkweek.com, there were several very practical ideas we can implement in addition to some from the Hewitts.

In addition to these written resources, here are a few other anti-multi-tasking ideas to consider:

1. Outsource what you can. No matter what your income, there are things that are worth the cost to have someone else do versus the time and energy it would take you to complete. It is amazing how inexpensively some things can get done. Each time we add an out-source I think, “Why did I ever do that for this long?” Virtual Assistants are extremely reasonable and can help so much!

2. Prioritize each morning. Then address the most important items first.

3. Set time aside for you and the things that you are passionate about. At the Sales Expert Summit last month, Danita Bye said that “just because I am competent in something, doesn’t mean I am passionate about it.” If you aren’t passionate about something, why are you trying to multi-task with it?

4. Delegate. This is different from outsourcing. Delegating means it is someone at home or work that you can assign a responsibility or activity to…and not pay them extra to do it!

5. Minimize the number of times your emails are received, both on your computer and on the hand-held. Alice Kemper schedules hers to only be received every 60 minutes. A lot of people thought she was nuts. But guess what? She now is more in control of her time and schedule. Unless we have life-or-death matters being emailed to us, why do we need to be interrupted every 3-5 minutes?

For all you multi-taskers, this is a lot to consider – you aren’t going to change your habits overnight. Choose just one of these tips to work on, and see yourself go from crazy busy to just productive!

About the Author:

Sharpenz is dedicated to providing sales managers the resources and tools they need to motivate and equip their sales team to sell more each week. Our 30-minute power sales booster programs help companies increase sales by providing the right tools and training – fast. Designed with the busy manager in mind, Sharpenz’ ready-to-go sales training kits will give your sales team the opportunity to grow and earn more – all in a half hour of power.  To learn more, visit www.sharpenz.com and sign up for your free sales training kit today!

Categories
Sales & Marketing

Do You Wish There Was An Easier Way To Respond to Sales Objections?

Article Contributed by Sharpenz

Customers are saying ‘It costs too much.” “Business is slow I don’t need to advertise.” And most sellers have a prepared response.  Unintentionally, these responses are often framed to prove the customer wrong.  There’s a better sales technique.  It’s very simple:  You don’t need to have an answer.  You only need a question!

This week Ed Baron of Ed Baron and Associates and myself are facilitating an annual 5-day Sales Boot Camp for 18 sellers of radio, internet, newspaper, alternatives and community newspapers.  The week consists of sales training topics on selling skills, competitive media, proposal writing made easy, and powerful partnering. We finished Day 3 and have been having very interesting conversations about sales objections.  One seller asked, “Do advertising executives have a cologne of their own?  I walk into businesses and they immediately know I’m an advertising sales representative and often before I can even say hello and shake their hand I’m hearing everything and anything from I can’t afford it to, I tried it before and it didn’t work to the economy is bad and I’m not advertising.”  A big discussion ensued about what to say to each of these ‘objections.’   Everyone had many different ‘come backs.’

After listening intently to this conversation, Ed and I asked how often do their responses work and the customer opens up and accepts the opportunity for a meeting to discuss their business and how the seller may have a marketing solution to turn cost into an investment and no customers into more customers?  And they said very few.

So, I guess that way isn’t working!  I can see where that would be very frustrating and after enough of that kind of rejection begin to demoralize a seller.  Sellers can fall into the trap of believing the economy is so bad and business owners won’t buy from me now.

We know that’s not the case.  Businesses are buying and they could and would buy from these sellers if they changed how they are currently responding to these objections.

It’s very simple:  You don’t need to have an answer.  You only need a question!  Think about that.  If you have a question you:

• Engage the customer. They will be the one talking and often they talk themselves into advancing the sale!  Their talking builds rapport and trust.

• Gain more information.  It costs too much is too vague.  What does that really mean?  I don’t have money, I spent money before and didn’t get a return on my investment or I don’t see a value in what you are selling.  How do I even know how to respond if I really don’t know specifically what ‘it costs too much’ means to them?

• Reduce stress.  Knowing you need the perfect answer is stressful.  Wondering if what you say will satisfy the objection and help you advance the sale is stressful.  Think about this… having a good question is less stressful.  Good questions to those often asked objectives are easy to have – and having several questions to select from is easy which also makes it less stressful.

I challenge to you list the objections you hear and prepare at least one question you can ask to help you advance the sale.

About the Author:

Sharpenz is dedicated to providing sales managers the resources and tools they need to energize, engage and equip their sales team to sell each week. Our 30-minute power sales booster meetings help companies increase sales by providing the right tools and training – fast. Designed with the busy manager in mind, Sharpenz ready-to-go sales training kits will give your sales team the opportunity to grow and earn more – all in a half hour of power.  To learn more, visit www.sharpenz.com and sign up for your free ready-to-go sales training kit today!

Categories
Success Attitude

Goals are Dreams with Deadlines: How Goal Clarity Will Get You Where You Want

Article Contributed by Sharpenz

Recently, many of my “students” have told me they CAN’T set goals because everything is changing and they aren’t sure what tomorrow holds. Changing economies is exactly WHY we should set goals!

To start thinking about goals, reflect for a moment on this quote by Diane Scharf Hunt…“Goals are dreams with deadlines.”

Who couldn’t use a little dreaming today? And once we know our dreams, we need to capture them into specific, written and measurable goals. That is what goal clarity is…having specific, written and measurable outcomes that we are working toward. And we can make this easier by following a 5-step process to make it efficient and successful.

The following is a goal clarity strengthening process to implement right now…really, RIGHT now. Take out a piece of paper and pen and make 5 columns on the page for your own Goal Planner.

1. In the left column write at least 5 things you want to happen in the next 60 days. These are outcomes like “Make one new sales appointment each work day.” or “Close $___ in business each week.” These are your goal statements.

A caution: Review the outcomes for measurability and specificity to see whether you can identify whether it is accomplished or not. For example, if your goal is “More time with my family,” be specific about what that looks/feels like. Does it mean a certain amount of time each night or weekend? Certain activities completed together? “I will eat dinner with my family 3 times each week,” allows me to know whether I have achieved this or not.

2. Look at each statement and identify the actions needed to take to get there. Write 2-3 actions that will move you toward each outcome in the 2nd column.

3. Write a specific time/date when you will take that action in the 3rd column. Is it each day? Week? How often? A date is another checkpoint on the road to success.

4. Next, identify your reward for completing those actions or the goal. Think through the BENEFIT of completing the action that leads you to the goal or outcome. Will you sleep better? Will there be self-satisfaction? Will it be a treat like a special coffee or candy? Be prepared to “reward” yourself when you have completed the action/outcome. Write these in the 4th column.

5. And in the 5th column write the name of a stakeholder for this goal or outcome. A  stakeholder is someone who will care about this outcome – it might be a manager, a spouse, a colleague, a friend. You may have different stakeholders for each goal.

Finished? Congratulations! Look at this paper – you have at least 5 goals and a plan of action for the next 60 days to get there!

What’s next? Take action! Share each goal with your stakeholder for that goal. Your stakeholders may be able to:
•    Clarify the outcome with you to make sure it is specific enough for you to know whether you reach it or not.
•    Identify other actions that can get you there quicker or easier.
•    Help you in some way to achieve the goal.
•    Celebrate your progress and ultimate success!
•    Add accountability.

After your stakeholder is ready to stand by your side, it’s all up to you. The 5 steps to goal clarity will allow you to progress where you want – regardless of changing market conditions. It starts today with the action you take!

What are some of the goals you’ve set for yourself? Let us know in the Comments section.

About the Author:

Sharpenz is dedicated to providing sales managers the resources and tools they need to motivate and equip their sales team to sell more each week. Our 30-minute power sales booster programs help companies increase sales by providing the right tools and training – fast. Designed with the busy manager in mind, Sharpenz’ ready-to-go sales training kits will give your sales team the opportunity to grow and earn more – all in a half hour of power.  To learn more, visit www.sharpenz.com and sign up for your free sales training kit today!

Goals are Dreams with Deadlines: How Goal Clarity Will Get You Where You Want