Neil Rackham is world renowned as a speaker, New York Times best selling author and sales & marketing guru. I read one of his articles this morning as I’m preparing for a seminar I’m presenting later this morning. One specific quote jumped off the page, because I’m addressing this exact issue in my seminar in an hour or two:
“A good salesperson is educated by every call, every interaction”.
What does education have to do with risk? Absolutely everything!
Two essential attributes of a great salesperson are:
1. Risk taking … and
2. Courage
Most salespeople are not prepared to take risks, people love the status quo. Risk represents change and even if change means breaking a bad habit or addressing a personal or professional issue at which you’re not so good, we human beings hate change. So much so, that change is one of the top 3 fears we deplore most of all in life. Those top 3 fears are:
1. Public speaking
2. Change … and
3. Death
Do you notice anything odd about those three fears? It’s always been remarkable to me that people actually prefer death over change! We’re so fearful of change we’ve ranked death lower on the “Fear Richter Scale!”
We are creatures of habit, but if you’re not prepared to take risks every now and then by making mistakes, personal development is seriously stifled.
“The fastest way to succeed, is to double your failure rate” - Thomas Watson, Sr. (IBM Founder)
Thomas Edison failed 700 times before he invented and developed the electric light. He learned what didn’t work and relentlessly perfected his invention. The art of growth and development comes from being educated by your missteps and then acquiring the personal commitment to aspire to a level of expertise in areas where your flaws exist, so by fixing those imperfections your flaws will melt into the abyss.
Be Courageous!
Courage is one of the most powerful attributes in a great salesperson and is vital in a successful salesperson’s arsenal for a number of reasons. Firstly, venturing into the unknown requires courage. You don’t know where your mistakes are until you make them. Many salespeople are so insecure, they’re fearful of picking up the phone, or probing with aggressive questions, or testing a prospect’s sincerity with trail closes; but the most remarkable and the big daddy of them all, is …
60% Of Salespeople NEVER Ask For The Order
100% of salespeople know that in order to get the business you must ask for the order, but it’s astonishing that 60% never do! Fear is a huge obstacle perpetuating that statistic. It’s taken us almost 20 years to reduce that statistic from 70% to 60%, which means, we’ll eventually get it right by the turn of the next century! How many of you are prepared to wait till the year 2100 before you affect enough change in your professional sales arsenal to have the courage to actually ask for the order? I submit to those of you willing to wait, you should go straight to the nearest funeral home now and wait there.
The Difference Between Top Salespeople And The Rest
Once you’ve discovered the imperfections you need to address to move up the “Richter Scale of Sales Success” you need to keep a record of what works for you and discard what doesn’t.
Ø Top salespeople have an enormous CONVICTION of their success, they are so pre-occupied with success that FAILURE DOESN’T RATE!
Ø They are COMPETITORS. In selling, it’s head–to–head combat and the real pro has to win all the time.
Ø They have professional REFLEXES. The fighter in the ring doesn’t have time to think when a punch is thrown. They’ve practiced, drilled and rehearsed and a reflex action is automatic. Professionals practice! And top salespeople don’t have to think … their reaction is AUTOMATIC with objections and when buying signals are given.
Ø Top Salespeople keep a RECORD of every closing technique they’ve used successfully … and keep adding to it.
Ø Often when top sales professionals know in advance the selling situation, they PREPARE and PRACTICE reacting to certain circumstances.
A Few Success Tips
Keep a record of your successful personal CLOSING TECHNIQUES. Devote a SEPARATE PAGE to each closing technique and headline the page for easy reference. Outline at the top of each page the circumstances as they related to the situation when you SUCCESSFULLY used the close. Recall and write down some of the verbiage the client used and how YOU REACTED, then script, in detail, the COMPLETE DIALOGUE.
Be courageous by becoming more of a risk taker. By discovering your imperfections, developing the courage to recognize and affect change, then practice and drill the new skills you’ve acquired, it’s only then you’ll become a true sales champion.
Have a great week!
Bob Reid – Strategic Media Sales
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