A large majority of salespeople struggle to get in front of enough prospects to keep their pipeline full. As a result, they feel desperate, have a difficult time dealing with rejection, and often avoid asking the tough questions to find out if they really should be spending their time with someone. This leads to a long selling cycle, inefficient time management, and ultimately, failure.

The solution: Make prospecting a game. Here’s a great idea to prime your pipeline and put the fun back in prospecting!

The 20 Point Daily Activity System

• 1 point for a telephone contact with a decision maker.
• 1 point for a “customer service” call on an existing client.
• 2 points for forcing a decision to a “NO”.
• 2 points for setting an appointment.
• 3 points for getting a referral.
• 4 points for a face-to-face meeting.
• 5 points for a sale.

What makes this work is a management principal that says, “What gets tracked gets done.” Earning points gives you a target that lets you a reward. You can modify this system to fit your situation if you want, but don’t quit until you get your 20 points daily. Your goal becomes getting your 20 points not making sales. This takes all the pressure off of you. When you get your 20 points daily reward yourself. If you do this you will make more sales and feel better about yourself because you know you are doing the right activities.

(Thanks to our old friend John Condry, Career Success Seminars, for this idea.)

Even if you think you’re well versed in the selling basics, it’s important to keep your skills razor sharp. Sales fundamentals like listening and asking questions may make the difference between winning and losing, so don’t assume that a refresher course in the basics is beneath your level of expertise. These 10 reminders will keep your skills polished and form a strong selling foundation for career-long success.

1. Listen intently. The 80/20 rule bears repeating: Spend 80 percent of your time listening, and only 20 percent talking. You’re there to serve your customer’s needs, but you won’t be able to if you don’t stop talking long enough to uncover them. Ask a lot of questions, and take notes on the answers to force you to listen carefully and help ensure that you remember important points of the conversation. Sit on the edge of your seat, and be fascinated by what your prospects have to say – a big sale may be riding on every word.

2. Ask questions first, present later. Make sure you understand their needs, wants, expectations and feelings 100 percent so that your presentation hits all of their hot buttons. Ask questions first to ensure that you don’t share all your good news on page one – it may help build your prospect’s trust by showing them that their needs come before your desire to sell to them.

3. Uncover needs – don’t presume them. Just as no competent doctor prescribes treatment before thoroughly examining a patient, you should let your prospects tell you what they need instead of assuming that you already know. Should you make product or service recommendations without consulting them, they may question your competence and intentions. Remember – your prospects know themselves and their businesses best. Give them a chance to share that knowledge with you to benefit you both.

4. Uncover the budget . Once you and your prospects know how much they can spend, both of you can consider a buying decision more seriously. Assure prospects that you’ll do your best for them regardless of the size of their budget. When you’ve proven your honesty and reliability with a small order, your customers may reward you with more and bigger ones. If your prospect seems uncomfortable discussing money, ask for a ballpark figure, and work from there.

5. Uncover the decision making process.Presentations demand a lot of work and time, so make sure you present to those who can reward your effort with a sale. It may take longer to reach all of the decision makers, but trying to sell to non deciison makers simply wastes time – yours and theirs. Instead of presenting to the wrong people, spend your time building trust with gatekeepers who hold the key to the decision maker’s office and your next sale.

6. Build rapport without going overboard. Salespeople who try too hard to make friends of their prospects may be doing more harm than good. Most prospects want a salesperson who will be an informative industry resource, problem solver and reliable business partner – not a golfing buddy. Stick to impressing prospects with your honesty and expertise instead of your winning personality.

7. Don’t answer unspoken objections. When customers voice concerns, uncover the real issue by asking them why they raised that point. You never know just how much your prospects know about your product, so don’t volunteer information they may perceive as being negative.

8. Customize the sale. We all like to be treated like the special, unique individuals that we are, so tailor your selling style to suit each of your prospects. To keep them happy and comfortable, observe their personality and character closely, then conduct yourself accordingly. The more your customers feel like the center of your attention, the more likely they are to return for more of the VIP treatment.

9. Go with the flow. Few people really like to be sold, and fewer still enjoy being manipulated. Your desire to close a sale is secondary to your customers’ needs – make sure you can really help the prospects you target. When your product or service truly solves a problem, you shouldn’t have to manipulate the buyer into a purchase. The hard sell usually only raises the prospect’s defenses. Instead, take greater control of the sale by turning some of it over to the customer.

10. Have a selling system. Make sure you have a proven system that helps you generate prospects, set appointments, close sales and provide quality, consistent follow-up service. When problems arise, your system will simplify diagnosing and treating them.

For over eight years I sold financial products and services. Here is a telephone script that I found that worked.

“ Mr. Prospect, this is Steve Clark, my name probably doesn’t ring a bell. My I take 30 seconds and tell you why I called and you tell me if you want to talk any further?” (if they say no, which not many of them will, thank them and politely hang up and dial again) When they give you PERMISSION to continue you say, “I help individuals protect their income, increase their savings for retirement, and prevent the loss of financial assets. Is that something you would like to spend a two minutes talking about?”

In one hour you can make at least 35 dials, connect with 5 –7 people and should be able to schedule at least one appointment.

It doesn’t really matter what the economy is going to do. It doesn’t matter if it is up or down. The key is what do you EXPECT. Salespeople don’t get what they want but they do get what they expect. Sales, like life, is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Don’t let others such as co-workers, the media, friends, family or anyone else set your expectations for you.

Here is a step-by-step plan to help you:

1. Determine what you want clearly and specifically
2. Determine the amount of prospecting activity that it will take to achieve this goal
3. Create a detailedweekly plan to accomplish the activity
4. Commit to do “whatever it takes”
5. Track your activity and results
6. Analyze your results and make corrections to your plan
7. Start over at number 1

This is not hard to do but it does take commitment. It is also what separates the mediocre from the great. Choose to be great.

What keeps you from Prospecting regularly? A student in one of my classes once answered that question with “just about everything” and there was a loud laughter of recognition from the rest of the students in the class. I mean, they said things like laundry or dishes might even come first. If prospecting is something you’d rather not do, then you must not be having fun with it.

There are two types of prospecting. You can make cold calls or you can call people you know. The highest and best use of your time prospecting is with the people who already trust, know and like you. Yet, I find, most salespeople are not fully leveraging these contacts because they don’t want to be seen as pushy. Most of us abhor telemarketers and we think when we are calling to build our business we fall into that category.

Call the people you know and just check in with them. Call to connect, to deepen your relationship. They may not be ready to buy again but they likely have 250 people in their sphere of influence. Staying top-of-mind is the way for them to mention you when they hear of someone thinking of making purchase.

For fun, just try calling fifteen (15) people a day and have an authentic, friendly conversation. This is even a better exercise to do on one of those days when things aren’t going your way and you have crotchety unreasonable people you are dealing with. It will give you an attitude adjustment.

It’s the magnetic Principle of Attraction: When you enjoy what you are doing, you attract others by your energy and people want to be around you and refer their friends and family to you. When you are working to do the numbers and are serious about needing business, you repulse and turn people off.

Sometimes, it’s time to crank up business we need to stir up the cosmic dust BIG TIME. When that occurs, the more fun you can put in it, the easier it will be to focus and kick some serious butt. Let’s take a look at how you are going to approach it.

How about next time you prospect make it your goal to get 15 “no’s”. Just keep calling until you get those 15 “no’s”. Do you think if you did that with no attachment to how many “yeses”, you should be getting that you might actually get some “yeses”? Now, I don’t mean be sloppy about it. What I mean is let go of the outcome and don’t take it personally.

If they say “no” don’t internalize it as personal rejection. It is more about them and where they are at that moment. Your job is just to listen to what they really say and then give it your best shot rather than having your self-worth based on whether or not they agreed to see you. The other useful part of this exercise is honing your skill. So after each call, note in a journal what worked and what didn’t. Then on the next call, tweak your approach. Play this game today and realize you win when you get 15 no’s??

As Jimmy Buffet says,” Fun is about the best habit there is.”

Buyers tend to be transactional oriented or relationship oriented. Transactional buyers are concerned about today’s purchase. They do a lot of research investigating the product they are considering buying and consider himself or herself a product expert. They are not concerned about service, trust or relationship. They are concerned primarily about price and terms. They enjoy negotiating and trying to extract as many concessions out of the salesperson as possible. They see what they are doing as a game. A game where they win and the salesperson loses. They will “milk” the salesperson for free information, technical data, etc. Because of their “I win you lose” approach they have no loyalty. They are a salesperson’s worst nightmare.

Relationship Buyers consider today’s transaction as one in a series of many. They do not enjoy playing the “shopping game.” They don’t enjoy comparison shopping or negotiating. They are looking for a Business Partner or Trusted Advisory who is an expert that they can trust. Once they find someone they trust they are loyal and tend to be the best repeat customers. While relational buyers consider the money they also realize that their time is better spent doing something other than shopping around. Because of their “I win and you win” orientation they are honest, open and pleasant to deal with.

Intentionally or unwittingly, companies will target either the transactional or relationship buyer. Who is your company targeting? What kind of business are you building?