Why It Is So Hard To Let Go

Why It Is So Hard To Let Go

The cheerful girl with bouncy golden curls was almost five. Waiting with her mother at the checkout stand, she saw them: a circle of glistening white pearls in a pink foil box.

 

"Oh please, Mommy. Can I have them? Please, Mommy, please?" Quickly the mother checked the back of the little foil box and then looked back into the pleading blue eyes of her little girl's upturned face. "A rupees ninety-five.  If you really want them, I'll think of some extra chores for you and in no time you can save enough money to buy them for yourself. Your birthday's only a week away and you might get another crisp rupee bill from Grandma."

 

As soon as Rubi got home, she emptied her penny bank and counted out 17 pennies. After dinner, she did more than her share of chores and she went to the neighbor and asked Mrs. Harry if she could pick dandelions for ten rupees.

On her birthday, Grandma did give her another new rupee bill and at last she had enough money to buy the necklace.

Rubi loved her pearls. They made her feel dressed up and grown up. She wore them everywhere - Sunday school, kindergarten, even to bed. The only time she took them off was when she went swimming or had a bubble bath. Mother said if they got wet, they might turn her neck green.

 

Rubi had a very loving daddy and every night when she was ready for bed, he would stop whatever he was doing and come upstairs to read her a story. One night when he finished the story, he asked Rubi, "Do you love me?" "Oh yes, Daddy. You know that I love you." "Then give me your pearls." "Oh, Daddy, not my pearls. But you can have Princess - the white horse from my collection. The one with the pink tail. Remember, Daddy? The one you gave me. She's my favorite." "That's okay, Honey. Daddy loves you. Good night." And he brushed her cheek with a kiss.

 

About a week later, after the story time, Rubi's daddy asked again, "Do you love me?" "Daddy, you know I love you." "Then give me your pearls." "Oh Daddy, not my pearls. But you can have my baby doll. The brand new one I got for my birthday. She is so beautiful and you can have the yellow blanket that matches her sleeper." "That's okay. Sleep well. God bless you, little one. Daddy loves you" And as always, he brushed her cheek with a gentle kiss.

 

A few nights later when her daddy came in, Rubi was sitting on her bed with her legs crossed American-style. As he came close, he noticed her chin was trembling and one silent tear rolled down her cheek. "What is it, Rubi? What's the matter?" Rubi didn't say anything but lifted her little hand up to her daddy. And when she opened it, there was her little pearl necklace. With a little quiver, she finally said, "Here, Daddy. It's for you."

 

With tears gathering in his own eyes, Rubi's kind daddy reached out with one hand to take the dime-store necklace, and with the other hand he reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue velvet case with a strand of genuine pearls and gave them to Rubi. He had them all the time. He was just waiting for her to give up the dime-store stuff so he could give her genuine treasure.

 

So it is with our Heavenly Father. He is waiting for us to give up the cheap things in our lives so that he can give us beautiful treasure. Isn't God good?

 

Are you holding onto things which God wants you to let go of. Are you holding on to harmful or unnecessary partners, relationships, habits and activities which you have come so attached to that it seems impossible to let go? Sometimes it is so hard to see what is in the other hand but do believe this one thing.............

 

God will never take away something without giving you something better in 

 

Author - Rajeev Kumar

Solid Teamwork For Success

The greatest day in your own life and mine is when we take total responsibility for our attitudes. That's the way we truly grow up --

 

Can you imagine what is daily motivation really all about? The following report includes some fascinating information about daily motivation--info you can use, not just the old stuff they used to tell you.

 

It's really a good idea to probe a little deeper into the subject of daily motivation. What you learn may extremely give you the confidence you need to venture into new areas.

 

One day, The God created the air, sun, plant, water, ground, and herbivore. Unfortunately, all of them were too proud of themselves. Each of them declared that it was the best of all until all of them were in hostility. In order to determine who the best was, they then asked their God to get the answer.

 

The God answered their question wisely, There is no need to self-state to be the best. All of you are great. You all are created to help each other, not to knock each other down. You are created to cooperate so you can live harmoniously and each of you needs help from others, you cannot live alone. The air was produce by the plant, so without the help of plant, there will be no air. If there is no air on the earth, the herbivore will die quickly in just minutes. The plant needs the water and herbivore dirt as fertilizer to grow up and also need the sun to run the process of photosynthesis to produce air. The herbivore must need the plant to eat and water to drink for living and surviving. The plants and herbivore need the ground as the place to stand and grow. The ground cannot be fertile without the help of water and fertilizer from herbivore dirt. So each of you are so useful to others. From now on, live peacefully and help each other. Then The God disappeared. Listening to the wise answer, they were aware the benefits of helping each other and live harmoniously.

 

Message for readers:

 

The story above is telling you about the power of building solid teamwork. You must have known that the power of a solid teamwork is much stronger and powerful than that of an individual and the most important is that working in a team can achieve the best expected results for the entire member of a team.

 

Do you ever see a flock of birds flying in the sky that form the V-shape formation? Do you think that it is accidental? No, its not accidental. They form that shape because of the benefits they can get. By flying in the formation, they can fly 70% further than the distance of one bird flying alone. In this formation, the leader of the birds is in the front. When the leader is tired, another bird will take the place in the front to be a leader. And if it is tired, it will be replaced by another bird. The bird that flies in the front is tired more quickly than those who fly behind.

 

Another example is to take an experiment. Take a sheet of paper and then tear it off. It is easy thing to do, isnt it? Then take 30 sheets of paper and tear them off. It will become more difficult. Then take 100 sheets of paper and then do the same. I think you cannot do that. What about you are hit on your head by a sheet of paper? It will not be absolutely painful. But if you are hit strongly on the head by 500 sheets of paper, you must be painful and dizzy.

 

So the conclusion we can make is that the effort of teamwork can defeat the single effort. Successful people realize that the teamwork can increase their power tremendously. Each of members in a team has the same goals and visions like you do. They can support and help you achieving your goals and together everyone achieves great results. They not only can motivate you, but also fill your weakness.

 

Tips: find people that have the same visions and can cooperate or collaborate with you to achieve bigger success.

 

Now you can understand why there's a growing interest in daily motivation. When people really begin to start looking for more valuable information about daily motivation, you'll be in a position to meet their needs.

 

If you enjoy my content, find more excellent motivational articles at

Read more at http://changeforgrowth.blogspot.com/

Lets Win Together!

From Rajeev Kumar.

How to over Come Sales Call Reluctance

How to over Come Sales Call Reluctance?

What's the number one killer of sales years and sales careers? Hint: it's not price or the economy. It's not even competition or unwilling customers and prospects. It is, believe it or not, simply the unwillingness of the sales professional to go and sell.

Sales call reluctance® researchers George Dudley and Shannon Goodson report that "as many as 80% of all salespeople who fail within their first year do so because of insufficient prospecting activity."

Oversimplified? Consider these:

1. Sales is a numbers game – If you contact enough prospects or suspects, you're bound to get results and learn from your mistakes. Of course, the more you can pre-qualify your target list of potential contacts, the greater your chances of success.

2. A better mousetrap, by itself, doesn't win sales – The activities of contacting prospects, asking good questions, presenting solutions and asking for the decision do win sales. Success is often based on how frequently you reach out to people who are willing and able to buy from you.

3. Referrals have to start somewhere - The top sales professionals, those who seem to live almost exclusively from current customers and referrals, had to initiate those contacts to start the process. They paid their dues along the way.

The hidden enemy

The fear of self-promotion is a condition in which even highly competent people receive far less in position, compensation and recognition than they feel they deserve. Doing the best job doesn't always get the best rewards. Those rewards tend to go to people who promote themselves, what they've done and what they can do.

Who are some of the top self-promoters of our day? When you look across all professions, those most famous in the public eye aren't necessarily the best at what they do. Dennis Rodman, Madonna and Bill Clinton are all very capable people. There are also, arguably, others in their respective professions who are more skilled and earn far less in both notoriety and compensation for their efforts. Rodman's willingness to paint his hair different colors draws attention to him, not necessarily to his skills or his results.

This fear of self-promotion manifests itself in professional selling as sales call reluctance®. It appears in several types and works in varying degrees of damage to the sales professional's results.

The symptoms

Sally is a steady, but never stellar, sales performer. She has a proposal she'll be presenting in two days to a new prospect. She has worked over the proposal a dozen times and is checking it again for any typographical errors. Next she'll review her presentation of the proposal and write her key points on note cards for further practice and rehearsal. All of this is done during the sales day, the only time of day when she can contact new prospects. This tendency of always getting ready and rarely getting it done is a symptom of the form of call reluctance® known as over-preparation.

Ryan works hard to project the right image to his customers and prospects. He always looks good and professional, as do his materials and his vehicle. Today, as he goes out to prospect for the afternoon, he'll stop and have his car washed inside and out to maintain that image. This is done at the expense of his prospecting activity, a tendency of sale call reluctance® known as hyper-pro.

The nature and pricing of Judy's product requires that she make her first contact with the CEO of her target prospects. She's uneasy with the idea, so she creatively works her way through organizations by starting with purchasing agents, human resource managers and anyone else who will speak with her. She builds rapport with these people easily, yet somehow she fails to get in front of the owner or boss. Unfortunately, except in rare instances, only that person at the top can decide to buy what she sells. Judy has a tendency toward social self-consciousness, another form of sales call reluctance, marked by an unwillingness to contact people in higher socioeconomic levels and positions of authority.

Jack knows that his financial products sell best by educating his prospective buyers through free seminars. He watches the sales numbers of his peers climb as they present seminar after seminar. Despite the evidence, he continues to contact one prospect at a time to present his products one-on-one. His tendency to shy away from group presentations is the form of call reluctance® known as stage fright.

How to identify sales call reluctance

Fortunately, there are several specific steps you can take to address sales call reluctance® in yourself and/or your sales team. Use these tips first to find where call reluctance® may be hurting you most:

1. Look closely at activities for trends and tendencies – It's fairly simple to see an overall lack of activity. That could indicate any of several forms of call reluctance®. Check for specifics such as follow up on referrals. Lack in this area may reveal referral aversion, the avoidance of asking for and following through on referral opportunities. Some will often try to mask this condition by vigorously defending the position with statements such as, "Referrals don't work in my business/with my customers/in this industry."
2. Observe during the sales call – What happened when it was time to ask for the business? Did you or your team member shy away? Did you as sales manager have to close the sale? Avoidance of asking for the order is common, known in sales call reluctance® as the yielder tendency.
3. Check telephone prospecting activity – If "dialing for dollars" is important to you or your sales representatives, check on the frequency and quantity of calling. When you find low levels here, the telephobia tendency of sales call reluctance® is likely at work and will sabotage even the top professional with the most proven approach.
4. Use a sales preference assessment – A validated instrument can quantify specific challenges and suggest appropriate steps to address sales call reluctance® issues. It also provides a proof source to show members of your sales team, in an objective way, a comprehensive picture of those areas of improvement.

 

Overcoming the enemy

Once you've identified and assessed the problem, you're ready to take the appropriate steps to reduce and eliminate some of the sales call reluctance® present in yourself or your sales team. The steps you take depend on the specific areas requiring the most attention. Here are a few examples:

1. Over-preparation – One client using this instrument had a simple method to address this. He simply chased the sales representative in question out of the office after a certain hour of the morning. That prevented the seemingly endless preparation, which was taking the place of prospecting and selling activities.
2. Stage fright – Another client has made participation in Toastmasters International a requirement for members of his sales force. Practice in speaking to a group whose purpose is to help the speaker improve has helped even the most fearful become competent enough to look forward to group presentation opportunities. Overcoming this fear has, in many cases, led to breakthroughs in other areas of sales call reluctance®.
3. Yielder – Role playing, albeit one of the sales professional's least favorite activities, is often indicated as practice in asking the prospect or customer to buy. This practice can make it easier to repeat the behaviors when the real-world opportunities come.
4. Hyper-pro – Often the simple knowledge that this tendency hurts one's chances to increase sales results is enough in and of itself. In many cases, this is a good example where the understanding of the problem comprises more than half of the solution. The sales professional can take simple and immediate steps to minimize or eliminate the activities which take away from solid prospecting and selling opportunities.

Lets Win Together!

Rajeev Kumar | Head (EPM) - IT Solution Consultant.

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Are you using the 80/20 principle when measuring sales productivity?

Are you using the 80/20 principle when measuring sales productivity?

I  am a numbers gal. When I look at a report or request an online query and can see measurable results, I get a warm and fuzzy feeling.  When data is involved in decision making, I feel more confident.  But sometimes, even number driven folks like us, have to take a step back and consider activities and qualitative information- and feel just as good.

I was reminded of this important fact when I recently read the thought provoking, entertaining book, "The 4 Hour Workweek: Escape the 9-5, live anywhere and join the new rich" written by Tim Ferris, in 2007 (before the economy tanked). Tim walks us through his personal adventures of success & failure and financial ups & downs- adding his blunt, sometimes hilarious commentary.

One of the things Tom discusses is the 80/20 rule, also called the Pareto principle. The concept, which most of you know, is that 20% of activities drive 80% of your results. In some cases even 10%, drive 90%. (For Tim, if you can achieve 80% of results in 20% of your time, you can use the remaining 80% to focus on what you enjoy.)

Let's apply the 80/20 rule to your sales organization.

• 20% of your team members drive 80% of your top line revenue
• 20% of your customers drive 80% of your profit
• 20% of your sales activities drive 80% of your results

My guess is that most of you agree with these concepts. The 80/20 rule can apply to most situations. Then, why do we ignore this when it comes to measuring sales productivity?

Do More Calls = Higher Quota Achievement?

At one of my prior companies, we had one employee who consistently blew away his sales quota. Did he make the most calls? No. Did he have the highest phone time? No. In fact, he had some of the lowest, measurable productivity stats out there.

When asked about the reasons for his success, this employee shared that he spent a good part of his day completing research, creating his strategy and refining his approach. He also found that starting his contact with a well crafted email, worked better than a telephone call.

Although he was far exceeding his quota, his very low productivity stats, brought down the team average and the Regional Manager was questioned about why the team stats were so low. When upper management heard about this employee, their response was something like "if X employee made even more calls and spent more time on the phone, he would bring in even more sales for the business. That's why we pay him an hourly rate in addition to his bonus. He is a telesales rep- by golly. He should be on the phone!"

Ok.. does this make sense? If this employee begins making calls, just to make calls, he will spend less time on the activities that are currently driving his success. Ultimately, he may drive fewer sales and hurt the business and his own achievement of quota.

Conversely, I have seen many employees with the lowest achievement of quota, have the highest productivity stats. How can this happen? Usually for one of two reasons. The employees are trying hard, but not using the right approach or strategy. Perhaps they need more training or coaching.

The other reason, simply put, is if you ask for stats and reps can control them via a CRM system, you will see stats go up. Numbers like calls and phone time can be manipulated very easily.  (I remember one situation where a rep was dialing 1-800 numbers for retail businesses, then waited on hold, just to make her phone time look better. Thank goodness for database analysis and cross-referencing.)

Are All Selling Days Created Equal?

One other point I want to make is.. sales success is not the same by day of week or by hour of day. Every business, depending on their customer base, has more success at certain times and less success at others. You could probably say that 80% of your closed sales, come from 20% of your selling time within a particular week.

For example, if you are targeting IT middle managers, calling them at 4PM on a Friday is very unlikely to yield positive results. Many IT middle managers come in very early and leave before 5PM, especially on Fridays. But, calling them at 7AM on Thursdays may be very fruitful.

With this in mind, are you holding salespeople to the same levels of productivity, for all hours and days of week? Are you asking them to make calls on Friday afternoons just to make your stats look good OR are you investing that time in more fruitful activities, like sales training or team meetings?

And…

The moral of this story, is that anything taken to an extreme can go from good to bad.. asset to liability. Measuring sales productivity is important and expected in any well-run sales organization. But, as leaders, we need to consider the 80/20 principle and add some common sense and flexibility into our measurement processes. All Reps, like all Leaders, do not achieve results the same way.

Lets Win Together!

Rajeev Kumar | Head (EPM) - IT Solution Consultant.
...........................................................................................................................................................................

Disclaimer: 

This email may be confidential. Any distribution, use or copying of this email or the information it contains by anyone other than an intended recipient is unauthorized. If you received this email in error, please advise me (by return email or otherwise) immediately.

Ce courriel est confidentiel. Toute diffusion, utilisation ou copie de ce message ou des renseignements qu'il contient par une personne autre que les destinataires désignés est interdite. Si vous recevez ce courriel par erreur, veuillez m'en aviser immédiatement, par retour de courriel ou par un autre moyen. 

Este mensaje es confidencial. Cualquier distribución, uso o copia del mensaje o de la información en el contenido por otras personas distintas de los destinatarios esta prohibida. Si usted recibe este mensaje por error, por favor comuníquemelo inmediatamente mediante reenvío del mensaje o por otro medio.

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Your pre-call & post-call checklist

How well did your last sales call go? Did you achieve what you set out to achieve? Do you know what your next course of action will be with that customer/prospect? Do you have evidence that a real sales opportunity exists? 

Using a pre-call and post-call checklist is a very useful process when assessing the effectiveness of your sales calls. 

Too many sales people, however, invest too little time thinking about and planning their approach to developing prospective sales opportunities. Many sales opportunities involve a range of variables that need to be accounted for and acted upon if they are to achieve a successful sales outcome. 

Most of us do not work in businesses where you can get an immediate sales result from one contact only. There are often several steps to achieving a successful sale, and like a good chess player you need to think several steps ahead. 

So why leave your sales opportunities to chance? 

Showing up with little or no plan leaves you looking unprofessional in the eyes of the customer. And you can't afford that in today's tough and competitive market place. 

I suggest You you to use the following checklist to maximise your sales efforts. 

Pre-call checklist: 

Questions to consider before calling / Approaching on a new prospect or an existing customer: 

• What is my call objective?
• Who do I need to speak to in this business/division/partnership/family?
• Who is the key decision maker(s)?
• Who is a main influence(s)?
• What potential obstacles exist that will threaten the sale?
• What stage am I at in the sales cycle?
• How will I open the call?
• What information do I have?
• What information do I need to find out?
• What sort of objections emerge out and how will I handle them?
• What's my fall back position?

Post-call checklist: 

Questions to consider when reviewing your customer sales interaction: 

• Did I achieve my objective?
• What went right?
• What went wrong?
• What information did I gather?
• What evidence do I have that this is still a viable sales opportunity?
• Did I advance the sale to the next stage?
• What will be my next move?
• Who else needs to be involved in the process?
• What else do I need to do to progress the sale to the next stage?
• When am I next going to see or speak to this customer?
• What will be my next call objective?

It is important that you review each of your calls to determine how you went and how you could improve. This tracking process is important for two reasons: 

1. It allows you to determine where you are at in the sales process with that particular customer, paving the way for key action items.
2. It results in a process of continuous improvement, allowing you to continuously improve upon your prospecting skills as you review what worked well and what did not work well.

Remember everybody lives by selling something and only telling is not selling!

Lets Win Together!

Rajeev Kumar | Head (EPM) - IT Solution Consultant.
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Passion as a Strategy

Passion as a Strategy, Plus Other Marketing Tips
To Boost Your Bottom Line

by Beth Goldstein

Nearly six out of 10 new businesses fail before their fifth year. If you've launched a business or are thinking about it, the odds of long-term success are against you! How do the survivors successfully find, attract and keep good customers? What's their secret? Could it be their passion for their business?

There are several ingredients that go into a winning business, including a great idea, a great team, great passion, and great leadership. All are important, but great passion can be the fire that helps fuel the success. It can also destroy the business when it is misguided.

Like all fires, passion can spark other flames and become contagious, igniting the passion of investors, business partners, and customers, as well as employees. If left uncontrolled, passion can consume, destroy, and leave a business with an empty dream. However, when controlled, directed, and focused, it can boost a business's chance for success. Nonetheless it isn't the only important ingredient. A great business idea alone will not make a business profitable, but a passionate team that has the vision and the ability to execute the idea, even if the idea is only pretty good; can help a company achieve success.

Therefore, in order to be successful in business, you don't have to come up with the most ingenious and creative business concept. However, you must have a solid concept that satisfies a need, and you must be able to properly funnel your passion to execute the plan. The failure to fuel your passion can cause you to skip or dismiss basic business principles. In fact, that's where you see really smart businesspeople with good intentions make fatal errors in judgment.

Passion can also be misdirected when you're caught up in the day-to-day activities of your business and don't take the opportunity to sit back and think about how to focus your energy. Joanna Alberti's business, philoSophie's, is a good example of the importance of taking time to reflect on your business goals and where you want to direct your passion. PhiloSophie's is a successful start-up greeting card company launched by owner and entrepreneur Joanna Alberti. In 2005, at the age of 24, Joanna was recognized by BusinessWeek as one of the top five young entrepreneurs under 25. Known for her whimsical designs and her humorous illustrations depicting women and their interests, Joanna's style and creativity fueled her passion to launch a greeting card business just one year after receiving her college degree.

As a business mentor to Joanna, I had the opportunity to work with her as she developed philoSophie's. I also watched her struggle as she worked 20-hour days; often coming into my office covered in glitter from the greeting cards she had hand-embellished. She was doing it all, but was she doing too much?

Joanna was trying to launch her business in so many venues that she was not taking the time to determine who her customers were, why they were buying from her, and what needs she satisfied. She was trying to get into as many markets as possible without thinking about which of them made the most sense for her limited budget and time. She was clearly spread too thin and was unable to prioritize her marketing efforts.

Most business owners, like Joanna are so busy with the day-to-day management of their company that they don't realize the importance of focusing their business passion to reach their goals more rapidly, more efficiently, and with greater overall success. The following is a list of marketing techniques that I helped Joanna implement and always recommend to my students and clients. They are designed to ensure your passion fuels your success, not your demise.

1. Profile Your Customers. Who are your most valuable customers? Can you describe them succinctly, in 50 words or less? Profiles are descriptions of your customers' values, beliefs and decision-making processes. While it's important that you understand the products and services that you offer customers, it's even more significant to understand what your customers value and why so you can fulfill their needs. Don't assume you know, ask them.

2. Play 20 Questions With Your Clients. Imagine that your five most important customers are sitting in a room with you. What questions would you ask them about their purchases, their needs and interests, and the factors that influence their decision-making processes? Hopefully you already know how they found your company, what they have purchased, and why. If you don't, these should be among the first questions you ask. Compile a list of 20 questions that will help you define your customers. Then develop a framework that will allow you to obtain critical information, determine the methods you will use (i.e., surveys, market research) and define sources of this data.

3. Remember to Keep Your Friends Close but Your Enemies (i.e., Competitors) Closer. Identify several companies that offer competitive or substitute products or services. Discover what their benefits are to potential or current customers of yours. Now think about how you compete against them by comparing your message, value proposition and target audiences with theirs. Based on your assessment, develop at least three strategies that you will use to position yourself effectively against them and are prepared with this knowledge when prospects ask, "What sets you apart from ABC Company?"

4. Identify Partner Companies That Will Create Win-Win Relationships. What do you expect from a partner and how can it contribute to your company's growth? Can your potential partners' strengths be leveraged to empower your business? What does your 'must have' list look like in order for your partnership to succeed? Do you each add value to mutual companies while not competing with each other? A strong marketing alliance offers many benefits, including reducing risk, sharing costs and improving time to market, so choose your partners carefully.

5. Find Out If Perception Is Reality. How do your customers and prospects perceive you? Branding is the impression you leave through every customer touch point and involves far more than a nice logo or cool tagline. Everything you do has to incorporate your message, because if you dilute it in any way, you won't be sending a clear definition of the value you provide customers. As the saying goes, "Perception is reality," so in order to ensure that your brand is strong, your message must be clear, focused and on target at every touch point.

6. Prepare a Strong Elevator Pitch. Ever find yourself in a room with a key prospect and you couldn't succinctly explain your business to her? Perhaps you rambled on for minutes, never getting to the point, or you froze up. Elevator pitches are designed to help you prepare a very brief pitch explaining clearly to anybody you meet why they would want to continue a dialogue with you at a future point in time. You don't want to tell them everything about your business, just enough to whet their appetite and get them interested in meeting with you again.

7. Align Marketing Programs to Meet Sales Goals. Sales and marketing have to work together to support business growth. Even if the same person wears the sales and marketing hats in your company, you must plan your marketing program based on how many sales leads you need to generate and what your cycle time is. For example, if you know you need 1,000 leads over a six-month period of time to attain the number of new customers required for business growth, proactively plan your marketing programs well in advance so they generate the desired results.

8. Harness Your Passion as a Strategy. Even the most successful companies have their share of business ups and downs. How will you use your passion to get through the rough patches and continue to grow? Consider your passion for your business. What do you love about it? Why are you starting or did you start it? List 10 reasons why you feel passionately about your business. Post this in your office or some place where you will see it every day to remind yourself why you're getting up each morning and going to work (even if that's just down the hall). These 10 reasons will keep you motivated on the good days as well as the bad ones!

Implementing many of these techniques allowed Joanna to candidly evaluate the effectiveness of her strategy for expanding philoSophie's and to successfully channel her passion in the optimal direction. Through hard work she identified her most valuable sales channels and developed more efficient ways of allocating her time, ultimately leading to critical growth in both new and existing markets.

 

Regards From,

Rajeev kumar
9662046715
Lets Win Together!

How the Technique of Sales Work

How the Technique of Sales Work

You have your sales team screened, hired, and trained on the features and benefits of your product and now it's time to put their "feet on the street!" But what about their sales approach? Did you think through the possible sales techniques and make an informed choice about what would work most effectively for your product and market? If not, your team may not be off to the fast break you hope for. Take the time to think about what approach would work best for the sales environment your reps will be facing.

If you're in a consulting or service-oriented business you know that it's going to require a relationship building process, but a product sales environment may require the same thing. The art of selling is not as straight forward as you may think. If you haven't been out there and sold before (as many new business owners haven't) then you may benefit from going through this workshop and identifying what you think might work for your business. If you're a seasoned sales professional now in a sales management position there may also be a thing or two for you. In this article, we'll look at some of the more effective selling techniques out there.

Have you ever had someone convince you to buy something you knew you'd never use? How do they do that? Did you want to buy anything else from them? Did you have a good relationship with them? These are some of the questions that come up when you think about what types of techniques your sales team should use.

Early books about sales techniques (I am  talking about the early 1900's) included key words like ethics, service, relationships, hard work, doing the best job possible, and loyalty to your company. These all led to the idea of building a friendship and relationship with your customers so they would keep coming back. (Sound familiar?) After about 10 years, other ideas began to surface. Door-to-door salesmen discovered that they could increase their sales by using specific words and specific persuasion methods. This led to the perfecting and proliferation of sales techniques that focused not on the customer's needs or building a relationship, but on closing techniques and methods that rated a one-time sale, which was their only interest.

Different Sales Stages

The foundations of most modern sales techniques lie in five stages of action. These began in the 1950's and include:

1.    Attention: You have to get the attention of your prospect through some advertising or prospecting method.

2.    Interest: Build their interest by using an emotional appeal such as how good they will look to their boss when they make this deal that will save the company thousands of dollars!

3.    Desire: Build their desire for your product by showing them its features and letting them sample or test-drive it.

4.    Conviction: Increase their desire for your product by statistically proving the worth of your product. Compare it to its competitors. Use testimonials from happy customers.

5.    Action: Encourage the prospect to act. This is your closing. Ask for the order. If they object, address their objections. There are then many variations of closing techniques that can help get the business.

 

There is a plethora of closing techniques that range from hard sell to soft sell and everything in-between. Some of these include:

·        A Direct Close - Simply ask for the order when you are sure your prospect is ready.

·        A Deal/Concession Close - Using this closing technique gives the prospect the feeling that they are making a smart choice and saving money (or getting more value). Use it with phrases like "Order today and I can add this other module for only 10 percent more."

·        A Time-Driven Close - This one works well with statements like, "prices are going up next week, so you should go ahead a let me place your order today."

·        Trial Offer - You can let the prospect use the product at no risk for a trial period. This works well if you're selling products that make people's lives easier. They aren't likely to want to give it back if it has saved them a lot of time and effort during the trial period. On the other hand, if they haven't had the experience with the product you told them they would then you probably won't get another chance.

 

Many more closing techniques exist, but we're going to focus on one of the more successful techniques for building a large and loyal customer base. That focus is, once again, Relationship Selling.

 

Selling with Relationship

Did you know that it costs more than five times as much to get a new customer as it does to keep an existing customer? That in itself should help you understand the value of building a relationship with your customers and turning them into both repeat buyers and spokespeople for your company. Word of mouth referrals are still one of the best ways to make new sales. If Joe tells Ed he got a great deal from Joanna at XYZ company, then Ed is more likely to go to Joanna and also buy (or at least be receptive if Joanna calls him to set up an appointment.)

 

Relationship selling is all about building a friendship or relationship with your prospects and listening to their needs. Once you've built that relationship, shown you care, and earned their trust, you are on the road to making them a customer. Knowing their needs and finding out their secret fears (for example, your client may confide to you, "If I can't make this project work within budget, my boss will probably replace me!") can help you find solutions for them that are exactly on-target with their needs and build an even stronger relationship. With a relationship in place, working out details is a breeze. Those details become obstacles if you don't have the existing relationship.

As a client, some of my best experiences with sales people were with those who honestly listened to my needs, and showed an interest in more than just the business. They came in with a low pressure, open, and honest approach and won my business. I didn't mind setting up appointments for their visits. I looked forward to them. It was low pressure and friendly. My company received good service, good prices, and everyone was happy. I knew they would react quickly if I had problems or emergency needs. So, when competitors called, I quickly told them we were happy with our current vendor - even if they may have been able to give us a better price! That's part of the power of relationship selling!

Most people react negatively to high pressure sales. In relationship selling, high pressure is not typically part of the equation, simply because it's hard to have a friendly relationship with a client who feels pressured by you. In relationship selling, you become a form of support for your clients. Your services or products become something they depend on, and the more you can suit their needs and make their jobs easier, the better they will respond to additional sales offers. You'll also find that relationship selling benefits companies that offer products in very competitive markets - particularly if there isn't a lot of difference between products!

Maintaining Customer Contact

Part of relationship selling involves maintaining regular contact. If you neglect a client who has trust in your integrity as a person and as a salesperson, that client may finally be forced to turn to your competitor. (Who has probably been calling regularly to get their business.) So, make sure you not only build the relationship, but keep regular contact and keep all channels of communication open. Make available several methods of contact for any type of emergency need. Or you may find that, in an emergency, your client was forced to contact that persistent competitor and discovered that, "Hey, he/she's a nice person too! And their product is maybe even a little better! Hmmmm!" So, the lesson is, make sure you maintain contact and are always accessible to your clients, or you may find yourself having to replace them!

An important part of relationship selling is also having the technology available to manage and maintain those relationships. That often comes in the form of contact management software or a good Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.

A new sales technique that has recently surfaced involves spending significant sales time only with those prospects who offer the highest probability of a sale. Arriving at that determination involves asking pointed questions and letting the prospect do the majority of the talking. The approach is to focus only on prospects who need your product, want you product, and can afford your product. Rather than using the effort trying to turn a low probability prospect into a high probability prospect, you focus your efforts entirely on the high probability group.

Determining who is high probability is done through a series of questions that require positive answers. If at any point, you don't get the answer you need, you end the meeting, thank the person, and leave. You don't waste your time and/or your proposal department's time on putting together a proposal that you know won't be accepted. Now, just because the prospect states that they are not interested, doesn't mean you pack your bags and leave. If they've answered all other questions with the right answers then you can continue the line of questioning until you determine without doubt that they will buy. This means you never ask for the order. If you've done the questioning (interview) session right then when it is completed you and the prospect have come to a meeting of the minds and the logical next step is that they will place an order. Your series of questions has eliminated any objections (or else you have already said goodbye and left!).

Rather than trying to manipulate the prospect and get them to do something they don't want to do, you are letting them come to the decision that it is the right thing to do. You are laying the foundation for a mutually beneficial basis for doing business.

 

Basic (but Effective) Sales Tips and Techniques

Today there are more types of sales styles and techniques than you can shake a stick at. So how do you know what works and what doesn't? It really boils down to what works for you and what works for your product. Think about your target market and their perceptions about your product type. Do they know they need it and simply have to choose from the various brands on the market? Or, do they have no idea how much the product would help them be more productive? Do they even know about your product? Will the sales call be an education for them - or you?

Think through these things before determining what methods might work for your product or service. It goes without saying that a sales method that works for office supplies won't work for management consulting services. Although they are both targeting a similar market, the knowledge and understanding of your prospects will be much different. They have to be educated about how much they can benefit from consulting services, whereas, they already know they have to have binders to put their reports in, or paper for their copiers.

So, even though there are many sales methods, the choices are narrowed as you think about your market and what their needs are, as well as what their expectations may be.

With that said, let's just go over some things that are beneficial in almost any market. These tips are basic guidelines that most any sales person can benefit from.

·        Listen to the emotional side of your prospect or client: Emotions are tied into almost everything we do even if we don't realize it. Client may mention off-hand that they are really stressed-out about a particular project they are working on (even if it doesn't relate to what you're selling them). Make a note of this and see if there is anything you can do to assist them. You may have another client who had a similar dilemma and found a good solution. Make those connections and help where ever you can. You'll be rewarded with loyalty from all of your clients.

·        Focus on your prospect or client's needs:  We've talked about it before, but it's worth mentioning again. You may be tempted to sell your client your top-of-the-line model gadget when they really only need the mid-line model. By selling them more than they need, you may be cutting off future relations with them. Once they realize (and they will eventually) that they don't need most of what you sold them, they'll feel bitter and resentful toward you for wasting their money and not looking out for their best interest. They'll see you as a "salesperson" and not as a resource.

·        Use language that focuses on your prospect or client: Simply changing the way you speak may also make a difference in how you are received by your prospect. Using "you" and "yours," or "you'll find..." rather than "I think" or "Let me tell you about," brings your message a little closer to home and may grab their attention more quickly.

·        Help your prospect see the bottom line: If you know your product can help clients save money, or increase profitability, then make sure they understand that. Your product may have an edge in that it includes features that save time. Time is money as the saying goes, and if you can save time your can often sell your product.

·        Find out your prospect's priorities: You can save yourself a lot of wasted time and effort by simply knowing how important your product and its benefits are to your prospect. If you've listened to them and determined the need, but still aren't getting anywhere, find out if there are other elements of their business that are taking priority and pushing your sale aside. If you know they have to implement a program before they can spend time considering (or funds purchasing) your product then you can schedule a call back at a later date that may stand a better chance of getting some attention. To do this you have to ask the questions because the information is not always volunteered. (Again, the key is focusing on the needs of your prospect, and having an open relationship already in place.)

More Sales Tips and Techniques

As we mentioned previously, there are a plethora of sales styles and techniques. Here we continue a listing of some of those:

·        Know your prospect: Find out as much as you possibly can about your prospect before your appointment. This will not only help you anticipate their needs ahead of time, but will also show them you've done your homework and have an interest in their business other than just selling your product. When talking with them, let them do most of the talking. People usually love talking about their businesses and its successes. For example, you might bring up the fact that you saw they won an award at a regional meeting then let them proceed to fill you in on the details. You might also compliment them on the efficiency of their production system or the quality of their products. This will also open the door to more conversation and the opportunity to learn more about their needs and how your product will fit those needs.

·        Focus on why they should buy - not their objections:  The idea here is that while you are building up the benefits associated with using your product, they will be minimizing their resistance to it. By focusing on what you know the prospect likes, you are building up the importance of the positive and reducing the importance of the negatives.

·        Sell the benefits - not the product: You've heard this one before, but it is worth repeating. In most cases, you're not selling your product, you're selling the benefits the product will produce. In other words, you're not selling digital phones, you're selling the ability to communicate from anywhere. You are selling freedom to leave the confines of the office and still be accessible. You're selling the ability to have a more flexible work schedule. You're selling peace of mind for long trips. You're selling security. Get to the emotional or financial benefits and you're on to something!

·        Never rush the sale or the customer: Remember the section about building a relationship with your customers? This is a very important step. It can help give the prospect the right perception of you and your company. Rushing them instead of letting them come to their own decision to buy can create hostilities that can't be overturned. It can make the difference between getting the sale and creating a loyal customer, and having to start over with another prospect. In the competitive climate of many markets, you definitely don't want to risk losing a qualified prospect who you know needs your product.

·        Know your products, as well as the market - be a RESOURCE:  In order to be seen as a valuable resource for your clients, you have to demonstrate that you not only know and understand your products and the market, but can assist them in making good decisions and provide them with tools to improve their business. If you don't have these skills and knowledge, get them. You'll be rewarded over and over by loyal clients who trust your opinions and advice, and buy from you frequently.

·        Follow through with promises: If you do nothing else, do this. Always follow through with what you say you are going to do. If you say you'll send a quote by Friday - DO IT! If you say you'll check with someone else in your company about an issue that's come up - DO IT! Don't forget. Use the technology available to you (even if it's a sticky note on your dash board!) and make sure you follow through with your promises. There is no surer way to lose the faith of a prospect (or existing client) than to forget to do something you tell them you will do. If something comes up that forces you to have to delay, call them and give them a heads up. They may have a meeting arranged to present the information you're supplying them with, and if they don't have it you'll both look bad.

·        Focus on your client's success:  Not to beat a dead horse, but there is tremendous value in being a resource for your client. If you can help them to succeed then they are more likely to help you succeed. Be a coach for your clients (at least in your areas of expertise). You have the unique perspective of seeing how many different businesses operate. Gather this knowledge and share it with your clients or prospects. Make sure they understand that you want to see them succeed, not just sell your products.

·        Use explanations rather than excuses:  If you do have to explain to a customer why there is a problem with their order, their repair, their service, etc. Explain why the problem is there in the first place, rather than using an excuse. For example, if you provide health care services and you're having difficulty meeting the scheduling needs of the customer, you might it explain it like this, "With this being a particularly bad allergy season we have had more emergency calls due to asthma (or whatever the case may be) and these patients can't wait for a scheduled appointment. Our staff is behind schedule, but we are addressing the problem now by bringing in temporary help for these critical need times. So we should be able to schedule your service on 'x' date." Understanding the problem may help alleviate some of their frustration. Verbalizing the cause may also keep you more aware of the potential problems so you can be more prepared the next time around.

 

So, there you have several sales tips to keep in mind when you're out there pounding the pavement. Stop, look and listen; it's good advice on the street, and it's good advice in sales.

Technology to Enhance Selling

The tools available to the sales professional are endless. If you had the mind to, you could have four or more electronic devices strapped to your body enabling you to be totally connected and available to anyone in the world at all times. Now that's dedication to keeping the lines of communication open!

·        You would have your beeper on your belt for those people you want to hear from but not acknowledge.

·        You would have your cell phone  in your coat pocket for those people you want to hear from and/or be able to contact regardless of where you are or what you're doing.

·        You would have your PDA, Blackberry or other smartphone in your shirt pocket to look up (while driving your rental car) the address of your next appointment. Or you could check your calendar to see where the heck that appointment is supposed to be, surf the net to MapQuest to get directions, check your e-mail, make notes to yourself, check your to-do list when you're bored, etc.

·        You would carry your laptop in your black leather executive backpack to use in airports to document the meetings you're at, the sales you made, surf the net, check your e-mail, play Free-Cell, update your contact management software, and complete your expense report. You would then sync that info with your PDA and you're ready for the next day!

·        You may even be carrying your digital projector to display those dazzling PowerPoint™ presentations you've put together.

 

Now there are even Web-based applications for sales that you can access from anywhere using your Web-enabled cell phone, PDA, or good old-fashioned laptop. Isn't technology great!?

In case you've been living in a cave for the past few years, you probably don't know all about CRM and its relationship to Contact Management Software. Basically, contact management software was the foundation for what is now Customer Relationship Management, or CRM. There are many software packages available to choose from that are either simply the contact manager portion, or the full-blown CRM version. You can also find programs that are Web-based to enable you to access your information from anywhere at any time. Regardless of which level your company uses, having some form of contact management software is necessary.

Let's take a closer look at CRM.

Customer Relationship Management

CRM is a strategy, process and technology that lets your company make the most of every sale by optimizing revenue and getting a better understanding of the customer's needs. The CRM universe rolls together sales (as a type of Sales Force Automation), marketing, and customer service into a single software-driven technology. In other words, it includes the areas of your company that affect the relationships with your customers. It puts this information into a single package which encompasses the meat of what every customer-centric business needs to know and keep track of. Every interaction with a customer is recorded in this single system. That information is then used to manage, measure and keep track of the processes of marketing, sales and customer service as they relate to that customer. Overall, it builds greater customer loyalty and a better customer experience.

No more will the Sales department blame Marketing for not communicating with them. No more will Customer Service blame Sales for disgruntled customers. No more will Marketing blame everyone else for not implementing their business solutions. Now everyone can live in one big happy, customer-focused universe that communicates and desegregates the internal workings of the company. Before, no one was accountable for why the customer wasn't happy. There was a lot of finger-pointing and buck-passing. With CRM everyone has access to what's going on with every customer and can access the information necessary to keep that customer happy.

Now, if we focus on the Sales portion of this we see that, with CRM, Sales can build that relationship (remember Relationship Selling) and that relationship can be extended deeper into the company to customer service. So, you have an even greater chance of keeping that customer happy and addressing his needs quickly and efficiently. Marketing can use the data gathered to develop new business solutions, directions, and more effectively communicate the offerings of the company.

Notes about Setting Up Your CRM System  As great as CRM is, it can't work without some up-front planning and forethought. For example, before you set up your sales team with a contact management or CRM system you have to first:

 

·        Plan the details of the information you want to collect.

·        Set up procedures and protocols for how the information will be entered.

·        Standardize phrasing and abbreviations for company names or address information.

·        Create drop-down lists for common terms and items that everyone would use.

·        Agree on report formats and styles and set up templates.

 

Once you have the preliminary information identified and squared away, set up time to thoroughly train your sales team and have an accessible resource for future questions and suggestions. It's a process that has to be planned and managed in order to be effective.

CRM is definitely the way of the future. Companies that don't implement some form of CRM may have a hard time keeping their customers as happy as their competitors who have a CRM system do.

Additional Tips for Managing a Successful Sales Team

 

1.     Support your sales team's efforts.

2.     Give them the tools and technology they need to succeed and beat the competition.

3.     Foster good relationships between your sales team, production and administration.

4.     Communicate regularly with your team.

5.     Mediate internal conflicts before they drive good sales reps away.

6.     Take action to fix problems as they arise, not after you've lost your team.

 

Lets Win Together!

http://changeforgrowth.blogspot.com/


From Rajeev Kumar