The Secret of a Sales Manager By Brian Tracy

A friend of mine is a very successful sales manager. After he had carefully interviewed and then selected a new salesman, he would take the salesman to a Cadillac dealership and insist that he trade in his old car for a new Cadillac.

The salesman would usually balk at the idea. He would be frightened of the cost of the car and huge monthly payments involved. But the sales manager would insist that he buy the Cadillac as a condition of employment.

At first, the salesman would feel guilt for buying the car, but within a few days, he would begin to see himself as the kind of person who drove a new Cadillac. He would see himself as a big money earner in his field, one of the top performers in his industry. And time after time, almost without fail, the salespeople in this organization became sales superstars.

Create the Mental Equivalent
Emmet Fox, the spiritual teacher, once said, "Your main job in life is to create the mental equivalent within yourself of what you want to realize and enjoy in your outer world." Your focus must be on creating the beliefs within yourself that are consistent with the great success you want to be in your outer world. You achieve this by challenging your self-limiting beliefs, rejecting them, and then acting as if they did not exist.

Behave Consistent with Your New Self-Image
You develop new beliefs by taking actions consistent with those beliefs. You act as if you already believe that you have these capabilities and competences. You behave like a positive, optimistic, and cheerful person toward everyone. You act as if your success is already guaranteed. You act as if you have a secret guarantee of success and only you know about it. You realize that you are developing, shaping, and controlling the evolution of your own character and personality by everything that you do and say every single day.

Make a Decision
Make a decision this very day to challenge and reject any self-limiting beliefs that you might have that could be holding you back. Look into yourself and question the areas of your life where you have doubts about your abilities or talents. You might ask your friends and family members if they see any negative beliefs that you might have. Often, they will be aware of self-limiting beliefs you have that you are not aware of yourself. In every case, once you have identified these negative beliefs, ask yourself, "What if the opposite were true?"

Keep Your Words and Actions Consistent
Your beliefs are always manifested in your words and actions. Make sure that everything you say and do from now on is consistent with the beliefs that you want to have and the person that you want to become. In time, you will replace more and more of your self-limiting beliefs with self-enhancing beliefs.

Action Exercise:

Imagine that you have the "golden touch" with money. If you were an extremely competent money manager, how would you handle your finances?
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Brian Tracy is one of the world's leading authorities on personal and business success. His fast-moving talks and seminars are loaded with powerful, proven ideas and strategies that you can apply immediately to get better results in every area. Visit the Brian Tracy web site.

-What are your thoughts on the ideas above? How about sharing the answers you came up with that were asked in the "action exercise"?

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How To Sell A Pencil -- And Your Product Or Service By Mike Brooks

If I gave you a pencil and asked you to sell it, how would you go about it?

This is one of the most basic of interview questions for sales reps, and the answer reveals so much about your previous training, your understanding of the sales process, and ultimately about what kind of sales rep you are.

So, what is the most effective way to sell a pencil? Well, first let’s look at how most sales reps go about doing it. When I’m interviewing sales reps I love using this technique. After letting a rep tell me how good of a closer they are, I pull out a pencil, hand it to them, and tell them to sell it to me. And off they go!

80% of sales reps start the same way – they start pitching. “This pencil is brand new, never used. It has grade “2” lead and a bright yellow color so it’s easy to find. It comes with a built in eraser,” etc.

Some reps can (and do!) talk about it for 5 minutes or more before they ask a question or ask for an order. As the sales rep rambles on, I begin to yawn, roll my eyes, etc. Amazingly, this just makes them talk even more! “What’s wrong with this people?” I think.

Now let’s look at how the top 20% go about selling a pencil. As soon as I give a top rep the pencil, they pause, and then they begin asking me questions:

“So how often do you use a pencil?”
“How many do you go through in a month?”
“What other locations does your company use pencils, and how often do they order them?”
“What quantity do you usually order them in?”
“Besides yourself, who’s involved in the buying decision?”

Quite a difference, huh? I’ll tell you right now, I listen to hundreds of sales reps in a month and they can easily be separated into these two groups: Those who pitch, pitch, pitch, and those who take the time to understand their prospect’s buying motives, and properly qualify to understand the entire selling process.

Now let’s see which category you fit in. When you speak with a prospect for the first time, how much of your script is focused on describing and pitching your product or service as opposed to questioning and uncovering buying motives?

If yours is like most scripts I review, then it’s filled with descriptions of what you do and how your product or service helps them. Most scripts attack the prospect with a barrage of “value statements” that turn people off and make them want to get you off the phone as quickly as possible.

Want a better way? Then take a tip from some of the best “pencil sales reps” and change your script and opening to focus more on questioning and discovering whether you’re dealing with a qualified buyer and what it might take to actually sell them.

Without knowing this, you’ll just end up with a lot of frustration and a lot of unsold pencils at the end of the month.
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Mike Brooks, Mr. Inside Sales, works with business owners and inside sales reps nationwide teaching them the skills, strategies and techniques of top 20% performance. If you're looking to catapult your sales, or create a sales team that actually makes their monthly revenues, then learn how by visiting: MrInsideSales.com

-What do you think of the ideas shared? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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How To Successfully Handle Objections By Mike Brooks

If you're like most sales reps, you hate to get objections. Your stomach aches, your palms start to sweat, and you can literally see your commissions fly out the window.

And, if you're like most sales reps, when you begin dealing with objections one of two things happen:

1) After you answer them, your prospect gives you another, then another objection and you go on the defensive...or

2) In answering the objection you tend to talk past the close, and you actually introduce more questions or objections! Now that's a sick feeling, isn't it?

Want an easier way to deal with the objections you get over and over again? Here's how to do it:

First, learn to listen. Don’t be so quick to interrupt your prospect because often times the way to overcome their objection is actually in the objection itself... Second, if you don’t know how to respond to their objection, or don’t even understand what the objection is (which is the case for 80% of sales reps), ask for clarification. An effective technique is:

“Hum... I’m not sure I follow you, what exactly do you mean?”

This is a great technique because in restating their objection, many times prospects will either give you the answers you need, or sometimes they’ll even explain away their objection.

Third, after your prospect has clarified their objection and you fully understand what it is, you should always isolate it before answering it! Again, you must be patient and give your prospect every opportunity to help you deal with their objection.

Let’s use “The Price is too high” objection since it’s the most common. Most sales reps have been taught to build value to justify their price, or drop close to a lesser amount, or try to negotiate in some other way. While these techniques are valuable tools, they should only be used after you isolate the objection. Here’s what you say:

“I understand __________, and let’s put the price aside for a moment and make sure this (product or service) is something that will work for you. Let me ask you, if price weren’t an issue here, in other words, if this fit in with what you were willing to pay, would you go ahead and put me and my company to work for you?”

This one technique is the most powerful closing tool you’ll ever use in dealing with objections. Sadly, it’s used less than 10% of the time, and that’s the reason I keep getting emails asking me what the best way of dealing with objections is.

My suggestion to you today is to incorporate these two techniques and to see for yourself how much easier objection handling becomes for you.
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Mike Brooks, Mr. Inside Sales, works with business owners and inside sales reps nationwide teaching them the skills, strategies and techniques of top 20% performance. If you're looking to catapult your sales, or create a sales team that actually makes their monthly revenues, then learn how by visiting: MrInsideSales.com

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-What are some techniques you use for handling objections which come up during the sale?

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How To Stay Firm On Price By Mike Brooks

In today's economy, everyone wants a lower price. I'm getting emails and calls every week from sales reps around the country who want to know what they can do to deal with prospects and clients alike who are looking for discounts and even threatening to take their business elsewhere.

"I can't go any lower," they tell me, "And certain clients just keep low balling me and working me for more discounts. What should I do?"

If you are dealing with this sort of thing as well, then I've got some specific advice that will not only work for you, but will make you more confident and successful as well. To start with, you have to admit the truth:

You can only go so low with your price, and some people will buy, and some won't. Period. Continuing to lower your price not only cuts into your
commissions (and company margins), it also doesn't always work as you know. And the worst part is that after you've jumped through all the hoops and your client still doesn't buy, you feel used and abused.

And that feeling is even worse than not getting the deal because it kills your confidence and makes you a weaker closer. After a few days or weeks of taking that weak attitude onto each additional call, your prospects begin to hear that defeat in your voice and you just keep getting beaten up over and over again.

Want a better way? Adopt the attitude of the Top 20% and do what they do. To start with, the Top 20% know that the two greatest feelings in sales are #1) Getting a deal, and #2) Keeping control of the situation by using a take away and leaving the call with strength.

The Top 20% know that not all prospects and clients are going to buy, and they know that staying strong and using a take away is the only way they can leave the call successfully. Here is what they say after they have made their best offer and the prospect/client is still trying to get them
to go lower:

"_________ I totally respect that you're trying to do what's best for your company right now, but the offer I've just made is the best I can do and
still give you the (level of service, quality, value, etc.) that you'd expect and be happy with. If you can get this somewhere else and it fits within what you're willing to pay, then I'll just have to understand and hope that I can work with you next time. I'm here for you now, but the decision is up to you - what would you like to do?"

Many times calling their bluff like this will get the prospects/clients that are deals to stop hammering you for price and sign up. And those who
walk? They would have walked anyway, and now when they do you'll have remained strong. Just like the Top 20% do.

Try this take away close this week, and watch your deals go up and your confidence rise as well. On Friday you'll go home with more money, and you'll feel better about yourself. And that's what being a Top Producer is all about!
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Mike Brooks, Mr. Inside Sales, works with business owners and inside sales reps nationwide teaching them the skills, strategies and techniques of top 20% performance. If you're looking to catapult your sales, or create a sales team that actually makes their monthly revenues, then learn how by visiting: MrInsideSales.com

-How do you go about addressing the issue of price when it comes up during the sales process?

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