Many of the questions I get asked by salespeople tend to be “how to” or “technique” type questions. These questions are most often the wrong questions to be asking. Why?

Because only about twenty percent (20%) of sales success can be attributed to technique(s. Simply put, asking technique type questions focuses on the wrong end of the problem. That focus is one reason that most sales training doesn’t work. Selling is not about what you do. It is about who you are.

We have known for years that our belief system is far more important than any technique(s) we use. Belief has to do with belief about product, market, company, competition and, most importantly, belief about our self. According to psychologist Denis Waitely, who has been a psychologist for the US Olympic teams, “we don’t get what we want in life but we do get what we expect.”

Selling, like life, is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Instead of harping on how to, we should be asking ourselves why am I having these problems? What beliefs are getting in the way of my success? What self-limiting beliefs do I need to change? If this sounds a bit like therapy that’s because it is. To be truly successful in life we have to be honest with ourselves and be willing to change. Sadly, most people don’t have the guts to confront their own “head trash”.

There is a rule of human nature that says: “You can only perform in your role in sales or life in a manner that is consistent with how you see yourself conceptually.” What you visualize you materialize. That’s what Napoleon Hill wrote about in “Think and Grow Rich”. The key word being “Think”. Whatever circumstances you and I are experiencing at this moment are because of the way we think. And what we think is ultimately our own responsibility. We can’t blame the economy, the competition, our company, the industry, 9/11/01 or anything else for what we think.

If you would like a copy of the fifty-four self limiting beliefs that impact sales success, contact me and I will send it to you.

When people buy an ice cream cone, they don’t buy a lump of fat and sugar. To the ice cream lover, a delicious cone is a spirit lifter, stress buster, or hunger reliever.

When your prospect buys your product or service what emotion are they buying? While you may be providing perfectly practical benefits, selling features and benefits is purely intellectual. Most customers are motivated more by the emotional benefits they get from what you sell rather than logical benefits. People buy emotionally and then justify logically.

For example, people don’t normally buy a car strictly because it is a good way to get across town. Instead they purchase the thrill of speed, the prestige of getting admiring looks, or the confidence of safety.

Recently, I got a book from Amazon.com. It came packaged with a free bookmark. On it was a quote from Christopher Morley: “When you sell a man a book, you don’t sell him twelve ounces of paper, ink and glue – you sell him a whole new life.”

Make sure your sales and marketing effort shouts the dream you provide. Learn to appeal to the emotional nature of your prospects humanness.

William James, the father of modern psychology, taught us that the number one need of human beings is not to understand but to be understood. You will be enormously successful if this is also the number one need that you fill in your selling process.

Your prospects will not be inclined to listen or care what you have to say until they have unloaded what’s on their mind. Once they have the chance to “get it all out”, they will then be ready to listen - and more importantly - ready to be sold.

Two Ears One Mouth
As salespeople, we have stores of helpful information to share. Often times, we can’t wait to jump in and blurt out our wisdom and knowledge. The fact is that just has to wait. Instead of talking endlessly about what we do, how we do it and with whom we do it, we would be wise to learn how to ask questions that draw out the issues or concerns that our prospect has. Only when we fully understand what they are experiencing can we offer an intelligent solution.

Take stock of your process. Are you asking questions and gaining insight to prospects problems and concerns or are you “showing up and throwing up”?

“When you partner with us to implement an integrated, company-wide selling system, you can expect measurable results in sixteen distinct areas”, says Steve Clark, President of New School Selling, Inc.

1. More effective management of complex, big dollar deals: Sales training can help you win the big ones by gaining a better understanding of the politics of larger organizations. Learn how to successfully navigate situations involving multiple decision makers, multiple departments, outside consultants, committees and unexpected participants.
2. A shorter selling cycle: Develop strong mutual agreements with prospective clients early in the selling cycle that define a step-by-step plan that will bring the process to an outcome within a mutually acceptable time frame.
3. Higher comfort level calling high: Develop a selling readiness tool kit that quickly helps you establish credibility at the highest levels. Truly understanding your prospective client, their challenges and their vision is far more powerful than demonstrating your product knowledge or its wizardry.
4. Weeding our non-buyers earlier: Your time and your company’s resources are extraordinarily valuable! Your prospect must earn them. Learn how to get prospects to sell you on their need and commitment.
5. More effective prospecting: Utilize a fresh, non-traditional approach to capture your prospect’s interest and imagination on the first call. Then, quickly help them discover why it is in their best interest to invite you in.
6. Less discounting: Price is never the real issue! You will gain the confidence and skill to shift the buyer’s focus from the price of your solution to: (a) the cost of not implementing your solution, and (b) their return on investment. If your customer really has the conviction that they’ll get a significantly better return per invested dollar by going with you, they’ll be glad to pay more!
7. Higher per sale average: Your will gain the confidence, patience and control required to do a thorough needs analysis before proposing any solution. This honest, comprehensive approach maximizes each opportunity by ensuring no money is left on the table, and that customers are totally satisfied.
8. Better relationships with prospects and clients: Create a climate of trust and respect through the utilization of a system where every conversation differentiates you from the stereotypical, ego-centered, pushy sales person. Experience the satisfaction of having your clients say, “Not only does he/she listen to me, they truly understand me.”
9. Higher closing ratios in competitive situations: Through your superior knowledge of your prospect’s needs, and the precise execution of mutual agreements you will differentiate your solution, and yourself, from your competition.
10. Lower cost per sale: Precious resources previously wasted on non-buyers in unwarranted proposals, demos, on-sites, trials, and prototypes are now more productively allocated.
11. More effective negotiations: Bring about successful outcomes while making no unilateral concessions. Never give anything away unless you’re getting something comparable, or of greater value in return.
12. More effective team selling: Experience the power of a selling team where every member is 100% bought-in to the exact same selling model. Every member always knows where they are in the process, what their exact role is.
13. More accurate forecasting: By achieving meaningful milestones throughout the selling cycle, the projected probability of a deal coming to fruition is within a significantly smaller margin of error. In addition, mechanisms are installed to protect the integrity of the overall forecasting system.
14. Higher activity level per rep: “The greatest motivator for a selling professional is winning”, says Tom Peters, author of, In Search of Excellence. Fresh new tactics and strategies that really work deliver the kind of wins and successes that create a ground swell of excitement and activity.
15. Better internal communication: The consensus gained through effective implementation of an integrated, company-wide selling system and the common language to describe it, ensures every internal conversation between members of the team - managers, reps, sales engineers, consultants, etc. - is more precise and efficient.
16. An overall increase in moral: Optimum morale is attained when your people feel good about and believe in: themselves, their company, their product and their market place. One of the most important benefits of successful implementation of the Sales Warrior process is sustainable improvement in all of these areas.

The Importance of Prospecting
Getting salespeople in front of qualified prospects is typically the number one issue of companies. The ability of the sales force to keep the pipeline full is key to success.

Without an effective prospecting system in place, the sales pipeline is weak which creates pressure to be more aggressive in selling to poorly qualified prospects. This leads to poor sales, deteriorating margins, frustrated salespeople and concerned management.

Prosper Prospecting Mentality

Prospecting can be equated to panning for gold. During the Gold Rush days in California, prospectors set up camp by a stream and patiently sifted through pan after pan of gravel and sand in the hopes of finding a gold nugget or two. It was hard, frustrating work, not unlike sales prospecting today. Perhaps the major difference between the gold prospector and the sales prospector is their attitude toward the process. Gold prospectors knew and accepted that they’d have to go through a great deal of gravel and sand to find a nugget. Instead of being frustrated when most of their effort didn’t produce results they accepted it as the reality of the job.

Unlike the gold prospector, today’s salesperson has an unrealistic expectation of prospecting. Instead of accepting the reality that most of their prospecting efforts will be in vain they believe that their prospecting activity should produce significant results. As a result they become frustrated with each call that doesn’t pan out.

To prevent disappointment and frustration, salespeople need to change their view of prospecting and remember that prospecting is a discarding activity. The successful salesperson understands that fact and realizes he will need to go through a number of contacts to find the real nugget.