Posts from — January 2008

Honest, effective communication hinges on being able to make a distinction between what we know and what we think we know, and to apply this to our professional and personal interactions with clients, friends, colleagues and associates.

This is a concept that was articulated at length by Dr. Brad Blanton in his book, Practicing Radical Honesty: How to Complete the Past, Live in the Present and Build a Future with a Little Help from Your Friends. He describes this distinction along the lines of what is noticed and what is imagined.

To explain this important distinction, let’s look at some examples:

Your self-concept is made up of three parts, each of which affects each of the others. Understanding these three parts enables you to put your hands on the keyboard of your own mental computer.

When you learn to take charge of the development of a new and positive self-concept of selling, you can then control your sales destiny for the rest of your career.

Determine Your Direction…
The first part of the self-concept is the “self-ideal.” Your self-ideal largely determines the direction in which you are going with your life. It guides the growth and evolution of your character and personality.

Can you remember the last time you walked into a car dealership looking to buy a vehicle? I bet your experience went something like this: First, you were introduced to the countless feature benefits that made that particular automobile the number one choice in its category.

Then you were probably invited to go for a test-drive so that you could experience, first hand, all of the wonderful things that splendid piece of machinery could do for you. Upon returning to the lot, you were likely greeted with a beaming smile followed by that quintessential question: “Mr.Customer, what’s it going to take to earn your business.” Ring a bell? Now ask yourself: at that moment, were you anywhere near a real commitment to buy that car?

Who is your greatest competitor? Throughout the history of selling, sales professionals have always faced great adversaries that compete for their highly coveted piece of business.

Is yours the large multi-national company or the boutique that somehow seems to call on your best customers? No, the most formidable competitor that has haunted salespeople for decades is the invisible competitor, the unseen attitude of customer indifference.

Why is indifference such a challenging competitor? Psychologically, indifference is rooted in our belief system. It’s endemic, an attitude, a viewpoint held by your customers, that you must change in order to close your sales.

Sales people who have a poor start at the beginning of a year, often find themselves struggling for the rest of the year to catch up. The good news is, whatever you’re experiencing, we’ve all been there at least once. The bad news is, most of us don’t know exactly how to snap out of a slump, and start making sales.

First – don’t panic! If you’re in panic mode, you can’t be creative, and creativity is exactly what you need right now. Besides, just as dogs can smell fear in humans, prospects can smell desperation in sales people. If you panic, your prospects will sense that you’re desperate, and they’ll avoid you like last night’s leftover Tuna Surprise. Just take a deep breath, stay calm and focus on what needs to be done.

What does it take to be successful in sales? Certainly effort, hard work and dedication is important.

An excellent understanding of the sales process is also essential. But it’s more than that. The most successful people I know have a slightly different outlook than their coworkers and associates.

I recently worked with a group of people who, collectively, had an extensive amount of sales experience. And, for the most part, they all boasted a pretty successful career.