| Sales Training | Let us create a 3d Digital eBook for you! DigyCat.com |
|
|
|
How To Give Your Sales Job A Strategic Tune-up
In happens every year in June. Six months down and six months to go. What will you do differently during the second half of the year to improve your selling results? If you don't take time to think about what you'll do differently, you may not do anything different. Now that's okay if you're happy with your year to date results. If however you'd like to do more during the second half of this year you'd better think about making some changes now. One of the keys to raising the bar is effective sales planning. For most of us selling is fun and planning is not. Remember that selling success doesn't come from doing what everyone else is doing. The most successful salespeople do the things that few salespeople take an interest in doing. There are two requirements for planning. First set aside some quiet time for creative thinking. Second, be sure to put your thoughts on paper. At least once a year professional salespeople should dedicate a minimum of one-day to strategically think about their businesses. Don't be too quick to say you're already doing it. Most sales reps acknowledge they think about their territories and customers daily. When pressed however most will admit they don't have time to creatively think about blue sky scenarios that may happen a year from now. If you can't devote one solid day for unrestrained creative thinking, don't think about aiming for the stars. Your best bet is to wait for a shooting star to come your way. Begin your planning process with these six critical questions. Direct these questions at your business, your territory, your accounts, your customers, and naturally your competitors. These questions will raise more questions and you should consider this process a success if you end up with more questions than answers. Here are the six questions. 1. Where are you are now? Where are you now relative to your sales results and selling skills? How's your performance? What's your relative rank within your region and within your company? What kind of overall growth do you have in your territory and in your top-10 accounts? Where are your competitors making inroads in your accounts? How well are you managing your time in your territory? What are your biggest challenges and best opportunities for growth? 2. Where are you headed if you don't change anything? What's the implication for you if you don't acquire new skills? What happens to your overall performance next year if you don't make up the loss of your second-largest customer? How will your customers react to a strategy that is really based on a "more of the same" concept, especially when your competitors are becoming more creative in their approach? With more work and less time available, how are you planning to manage next year when your business is expected to grow 10 percent across the board? If you can't handle the sales and marketing challenges and opportunities this year, how will you respond to the one's you face next year? 3. Where should you be headed? Do you have specific personal and professional goals? Are these goals specific and clearly defined? Are they in writing? Do you have completion dates established? For each of your top-10 accounts do you have specific objectives for sales, margins, growth rates, product mix, etc? Have you made a commitment to read sales books and to subscribe to sales publications? Have you analyzed your travel time and your time allocated to large, medium, and small accounts? 4. How will you achieve your objectives? You really can't "do" a goal or an objective. What you can and must do is create an action plan detailing how specifically you plan to achieve the goals you outlined when considering question three. For example, if your goal is to increase your sales by 12 percent in your largest account, how specifically will you do it? How many "how's" will it take to achieve your goal? Your goals define (what you want to achieve) and your strategies define (how specifically you'll do it.) Without proper linkage between goals and strategies, your goals begin to look like dreams. 5. What are the specific details involved? The details referred to are the who, what, where, why, when, which, and how as they relate to initiating and implementing your strategies. Ben Franklin once said, "Small leaks can sink big ships." In sales, minor adjustments often create big impacts and higher sales in your territory. 6. What should you measure? Always measure what matters. One of my favorite old sayings is "what gets measured gets done." To keep you on your stated course (objectives) how will you measure your progress? What key elements of success should your review monthly? Personal growth and development are often the result of careful measurement and evaluation. The difference between first-place and second place is often a very narrow margin. These questions can make a significant contribution to your selling results, but only if you invest the time to ask them. The favorite day of the week for procrastinators is tomorrow. Action-oriented people, the real doers in life, recognize, if you focus your energy on today, tomorrow takes care of itself. The future is yours to live one-day at a time. The shape of your future depends on the foundation of your plan. Are you planning your future today or waiting for tomorrow to do it? It's a clear choice and it's all yours. Jim Meisenheimer is the creator of No-Brainer Sales Training. His sales techniques and selling skills focus on practical ideas that get immediate results. You can discover all his secrets by visiting his website: http://www.meisenheimer.com
MORE RESOURCES: Sales Training - Google News Law School Sales Pitch Doubles Down On The Getting Rich Rationale For Law School - Above the Law
Foot Locker 1Q Net Jumps 36% As Sales Rise - Wall Street Journal
3 Ways to Annoy Your Customers - Inc.com
A new way to train revenue producers with tablets, smartphones and Internet - Inside Tucson Business
Radian Guaranty Expands Client Education Department - MarketWatch (press release)
Insurance Sales Consultant in Training - Associate Insurance Agent - Denver Business Journal
Richardson Certified Best-in-Class Smartchoice® Solution Provider in Sales ... - Sacramento Bee
GMS Talent Introduces New Sales Training Model Based Upon Emotional Skills - Houston Chronicle
|
RELATED ARTICLES
As They Approcah the Finish Line... The Winner Is? Recently, right before I was about to deliver a motivational speech at a sales conference, the Director of Sales took the stage and began talking about the importance of teamwork and how all the reps needed to work more effectively together. At the conclusion of his presentation, he turned to a large flip chart and turned the front page over. Are You a Sales Professional? Many sellers like to describe themselves as professionals, but what is it that makes a seller a professional?Professional sellers conduct themselves in such a way that buyers respect and trust them. Professional sellers work with buyers, they don't sell to them. Sales Closing: Dont Close Sales - Open Relationships to Achieve Multiple Sales A lot is written and talked about in regard to closing sales and in the traditional wisdom of sales experts, "closing" is regarded as the vital skill that sales people need to be successful. I would like to share my experience about "closing" and tell you why I think focusing on closing the sale is actually a non productive and destructive activity and tell you what, in my experience, has proved to be a better selling strategy. Sales Skills for the Non Sales Professional Have you ever wondered how in the heck you're going to do it? You are a lawyer who wants to make partner, an accountant, an engineer or other professional and part of your business plan is that you have to attract business customers? You've always detested selling, and you can't see yourself doing it! As a matter of fact, sales people are a HUGE turn off to you!!!Yet, you HAVE to bring in customers!!!What ARE you going to do?Many of my current or former clients fit the above description. Many of them finally contacted me, a coach, when they were in trouble because they had NO CLUE where to start. Three Secret Keys to Persuasion Magic Just a few critical distinctions can supercharge yourcommunication skills:1 Appeal To Peoples´ ValuesValues are the criteria by which people make sense of all theinformation they must process before making a decision. Insimple terms, your values consist of what is most important toyou. How to Make Training and Development a Power Agent for Change Does this sound familiar? With high expectations, you sent your employees or yourself to a training or personal development program. Six weeks later you're not sure if it was worth the investment. Is the Sales Funnel Dead? Think about it. If only it was as easy as "filling a funnel" and having sales fall through the other end. 8 Sales Lead Generation Methods I've been getting lots of email from my readers lately. And one thing that I hear often is that people need more sales leads. Bite Your Tongue Most people don't realize how powerful a negotiating tool silence is. I discovered exactly how effective as I recently observed someone discussing a deal with a prospective customer this past week. Direct Sales and the Use of Clipboards Do you ever feel that when you are doing direct sales you find yourself not getting respect from the local businesses? They are busy and you are an interruption of course, yet at the same time, it does slow you down. Smart direct sales marketers carry clipboards into offices to sell and take orders. Sell Without Feeling Like A Used Car Salesman Many business owners and professionals are appalled at the thought of having to sell their products or services. If you are going to be successful though, regardless of your profession, you are also going to be in the business of selling. Why Salespeople Fail Since 1990 I have focused on the three primary barriers which affect the performance of salespeople:-1. Low confidence and self image2. Grrr! Why Arent I Making SALES?! Selling online can be very difficult, more difficult than in the 3D world because you do not get any personal contact with your customer. People cannot just browse like they do in a store, they cannot offer feedback, and it is hard to build and maintain trust throughout the entire online sales process. Sales 101: Asking for the Order "Ask, and you shall receive", a biblical principal that offers some of the best sales advice for beginning salespeople and experienced sales professionals alike. The best sales presentation imaginable generally will not yield the desired results unless the salesperson asks for the business. Are You Doing What It Takes To Win More Sales What does it take to be a WINNER during these challenging times? Do you really know what it takes to win more sales? It takes . . Increase Sales - Overcoming Barriers Ever thought to yourself, "If only my team members would complete the tasks that we mutually agreed to in our action plan."Most managers have felt this way about certain employees at some point in time. 5 Ways to Increase Business Sales by Contacting Your Existing Customers One of the best ways to increase your sales and one that won't cost you a lot or take a huge amount of time is by selling more to your existing customers. This can be a lengthy process and expensive to win over a new customer between advertising, sales calls, and approvals. 3 Steps to Immediately Improve Sales Want to increase sales within your company? It's not as hard to do as some might have you believe. Though we as a nation are in the midst of an economic downturn these past two years, your company does not have to be. Increase Your Selling Confidence 1. Be on time. The "Finding Common Ground" Sales Technique, Is A Myth! Almost every book, manual, workshop or tape series teaching selling skills, will at one point suggest that you need to find something in com-mon with your prospective customer or client, in order to produce a trusting relationship. The thinking behind this suggestion is that if you find you have something in common with a decision-maker, somehow a bond or trust will be formed from a shared interest or mutual acquaint-ance. |
|
Looking For Royalty Free Photos for your Website, Business or Advertising?
List4Sale Domain Is For Sale - $10,000 For Enquiries eMail Us © www.List4Sale.biz 2011 |