Sales Training Tactics

Winners are only judged in loser’s circles.
-Brian Sullivan

Recently, as I prepared to speak at a company seminar, I looked around the room as salespeople walked in to find their seat at one of the 25 round tables. I wondered how these salespeople would choose which seat was best for them. Just a few minutes before my speech, I asked the sales manager to identify who in the room were the A, B and C players based on attitude and performance. Sure enough, they seemed to be huddled in groups throughout the room…finding comfort in like-minded performers.

As expected, throughout the day the table full of As and Bs participated in the learning more actively than the Cs. The Cs (when not enthusiastically sharing their tired story about how hung over they were from the night before) were sitting in the back, and at times rolling their eyes while the As offered their own advice and sales experience.

So what about you? Are you and A, B or C? And regardless of what you are right now, what do you want to be? If you want to be a C, it’s easy. You just have to believe you know all you need to know, what has worked in the past will continue to work, and that your sales peers who are constantly honing their knowledge and skill are nothing more than corporate butt-kissers.

And if you want to an A, then stop hanging around Cs. They are poisoning you. Grab a salad and shimmy up to a top performer or leader at your next sales meeting. Then grill them with questions about what you can do to mimic their success. And while your buddies from of the back of the room judge your motive, give them a wink, knowing that you will be delivering their performance review someday.

The person who sends out positive thoughts activates the world around him positively and draws back to himself positive results.
-Norman Vincent Peale
(1898-1993)

How do you feel? Are you ready? Of course you are. Because in 2010 you are going to change the world! And I promise it’s not going to be difficult. In fact, it’s going to be easier than you ever imagined. And the good news is that you have total control over how much positive impact you make. If you want this to be your most famous year ever, you absolutely can have it. But it means you have may have to “clean house.” That house is your mind. You need to get rid of any grudges, anger, jealousy, apathy or fear that existed in your business or personal life just two days ago. Why? Because it’s holding you back. If I thought being negative, angry or grumpy would help you sell more, lead more, organize more, or change the world more I would say, “Go for it!” But it doesn’t work.  It only makes people more negative angry and grumpy towards you and you can’t influence them if they think you are a jackass.

So today, make a deal with yourself. While others are making excuses, gossiping about a co-worker, cutting corners or frowning in frustration, be the one finding solutions, recognizing the good in others, finishing the job and smiling in celebration. Then be prepared for the positive results that this year will bring. Because these small changes in you are about to make BIG changes in everybody around you.

“If you don’t have a plan for yourself,
you’ll be part of someone else’s.”
-Unknown

We are now three weeks into 2010, which means your sales plan should be in full swing. If you haven’t made one yet, let’s give you some tips to makes sure you are on the right track. In order to make your plan work, you need two components. The first is a Strategic Objective that includes the larger goals you want to accomplish. Those goals might include becoming your company’s top sales performer. Another might be to grow your business by 20%. Whatever those Strategic Objectives are, it is important that you match them up with a very specific Tactical Plan. These are the smaller milestones that will help you get to your larger objectives. If you are in sales, you need to do the following:

1.    Determine exactly how much product you need to sell each week
2.    Determine how many live sales presentations you need to deliver each week to reach that sales goal.
3.    Determine exactly how many prospecting calls each day it will take to reach the sales presentation goal

For example, if you need to sell 5 of your focus products each week to reach your yearly goal, you may have to present to 10 prospects each week. To get those 10 presentations, you may need to prospect with 20 new potential clients. Which means you need to make 4 prospecting calls each day. Once you have that number in your plan each day, let it HAUNT you! Don’t end the day until you reach that Tactical Objective.  By breaking down your plan to a measurable daily number, you will have created a plan that sets the course to making you your company’s top sales performer. See you at the TOP!

“Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow-ripening fruit.”
– Aristotle

I recently met somebody who proudly claimed to have over 100 friends on Facebook and to be connected to over 1000 people on LinkedIn.  I then made the mistake of asking how many follow him on Twitter, and he proudly stuck his chest out and said. “Well over a hundred!”  I made the mistake of “friending” this person on Facebook and, after getting countless updates on topics ranging from his high score on a video game to asking me if I wanted to buy a Virtual Unicorn (what?!!!) from him in some fantasy world, I said, “ENOUGH!”  And just like that, he was gone from my daily life. I will no longer know things like, “if he was a color, what color would he be.” Halleluiah!

So what about you? Are you spending too many minutes each day trying to grow your virtual network of friends, family and business associates and too little time strengthening relationships with “real” friends, family and peers?  Call me wacky, but there is only so much of you to go around and for every minute you spend accepting a LinkedIn invitation or posting on Facebook, you have one less minute to spend with your spouse, a friend, a child or a customer. It’s like growing a garden. You can plant as many seeds as you want but they won’t grow unless you water them. And if all you do is plant and not water, you are just a lame gardener.

While I am not saying you should avoid social networking in its entirety, I am recommending that you don’t waste another minute creating online relationships that you can neither support nor find value in.  So this week, trim the fat! Because in the end, you will not be judged by the number of friends you have on Facebook, but instead by the depth of your closest relationships. Because a few deep relationships are better than a thousand shallow ones

“Life is a resume of memories. Choose this day to add to it.”
-Brian Sullivan

What do you remember most about your Holidays of the past? Take a minute right now to think of three of your best memories. Was it running around a basement as a child on Christmas Eve with your favorite cousins? Or perhaps it was that first New Years Eve you spent with the love of your life.  So what’s next? What memory will you create, what story will be told, what gift will you give THIS YEAR that will be thought of and talked about for years to come?

So this week before you get away from work to spend time with friends and family, think of the most important and clear objective…to do everything you can to add to your resume of memories. Because customers, jobs, bosses, employees and the Holidays themselves all come and go. But what remains are the memories you purposefully create this year. Don’t waste the chance to make this season the one you look back on as one of the best ever. And on behalf of the PRECISE Selling Company, which includes my wife and three kids, thank you for including us, albeit in a small way, into your home and workplace each week. Have a blast and God Bless you and your family!

Stress is the trash of modern life – we all generate it but if you don’t dispose of it properly, it will pile up and overtake your life.

~Danzae Pace

The song says “It’s the most wonderful time…of the year!” But why do so many of us feel it’s the most STRESSFUL time of the year? Presents to buy, sales quotas to make, 2010 Objectives to set, in-laws to keep happy. HELP! So what can YOU do to control the stress so that another day does not pass by without you truly enjoying it? Try these tips:

• Laugh- Laughter releases endorphins in the body and act as the body’s natural pain-killer.  Make it a regular part of your day. Then schedule time over the next week to be around people who will make you laugh. And who knows, you may not need the Egg Nog. Although they DO go well together!

• Set Boundaries- Choose to let some things go. Don’t say yes to everything and everybody.  You can only do so much!

• Don’t Freak Out on the Small Stuff- So many of the things that we get hung up this time of year just aren’t that important. We often focus too much time and energy on making everything perfect. But if we don’t smile, laugh and enjoy the season, none of those details matter.

So this week, as you prepare for the Holidays and year-end, keep asking yourself if you are happy. I mean REALLY happy. And if you aren’t, start removing the things that are getting in your way. Because the greatest gift you can give others this season is not wrapped in paper, but instead wrapped in a happier version of YOU.

Successful people are those who are never afraid to ask for help and who are always available to give it.
-Brian Sullivan

Ask the most successful people in sales, leadership, parenting and life how they got there and they will tell you that all the knowledge and skill they need lives in the minds and bodies of others. All they did was seek it out. And that is the consistent quality of top performers. They look at every conversation as a way to become smarter and more skilled. Whether they use that knowledge to sell more, lead more or serve more, it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that they realize that do not have all the answers.

These same people take pleasure in passing that knowledge on. Because they know by giving, they will, in fact, get more than they gave…either now or later. So this week:

• Seek out the three most successful people you know, or would like to know, and ask for help.
• Then prepare a list of three specific and well though out questions.
• Listen and learn.
• Act on that knowledge and record it
• Then share it with others who could also use it

By making this a habit, your value to everybody around you will increase. And in the process, you will build a network of mentors and friends that will do everything they can to make sure you get to the TOP…quickly.

The person who sends out positive thoughts activates the world around him positively and draws back to himself positive results.
-Norman Vincent Peale
(1898-1993)

How do you feel? Are you ready? Of course you are. Because in 2010 you are going to change the world! And I promise it’s not going to be difficult. In fact, it’s going to be easier than you ever imagined. And the good news is that you have total control over how much positive impact you make. If you want this to be your most famous year ever, you absolutely can have it. But it means you have may have to “clean house.” That house is your mind. You need to get rid of any grudges, anger, jealousy, apathy or fear that existed in your business or personal life just two days ago. Why? Because it’s holding you back. If I thought being negative, angry or grumpy would help you sell more, lead more, organize more, or change the world more I would say, “Go for it!” But it doesn’t work.  It only makes people more negative angry and grumpy towards you and you can’t influence them if they think you are a jackass.

So today, make a deal with yourself. While others are making excuses, gossiping about a co-worker, cutting corners or frowning in frustration, be the one finding solutions, recognizing the good in others, finishing the job and smiling in celebration. Then be prepared for the positive results that this year will bring. Because these small changes in you are about to make BIG changes in everybody around you.

“Thanksgiving Day is a jewel, to set in the hearts of honest men; but be careful that you do not take the day, and leave out the gratitude.”
-E.P. Powell

Think about how you will feel at the end of this workday and head into a great Thanksgiving weekend. Something is happening to you right now that feels different, doesn’t it? That feeling is “thankfulness.” When we feel it and express it to others, everything changes. So selfishly, it’s my turn to get the positive vibes going with a bit of thanks.

•    I am thankful for your desire to always improve.
•    I am thankful for what you teach me.
•    I am thankful for your trust.
•    I am thankful for your friendship.
•    I am thankful for letting me into your life once a week.

And thank you for allowing me to express it. Like most, I don’t do it enough. Have a wonderful time with your #1 customers, the friends and family that are thankful to have you in their lives.

“It’s wonderful to have a beginner’s mind.”
-Steve Jobs
Co-founder and CEO of Apple

My three-year old daughter only recently discovered her Daddy’s iPhone. As she picked it up, she began pressing every button. As her finger accidentally slid across the screen, she noticed she could make things move. And if she pressed that button on the bottom, music came on. The more noises and movements the phone made, the more curious she became. After loading it up with a few Toddler games, she became hooked. Three weeks later, Maggie can now do more on that thing than her Daddy and is a regular shopper in the Application Store.  She keeps looking for the phone to do more, and with curiosity as her fuel she keeps making new discoveries.

So what about you? Are you as curious as you were when you were a child?  If you said yes, then it means you are NOT satisfied with what you already know. It means you feel challenged, not burdened when a new technology enters your life (either willingly or unwillingly). It means you don’t look for answers to be given to you but are thrilled when it is your job to find the solution. It means you don’t see the world for what it is, but instead for what it should be. So STAY CURIOUS, and you will realize there is no END to the potential that your “beginner’s mind” brings to your sales region, company, industry and world.