Mark Tewart's Blog

You Are the CEO

admin — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 12:51:59 +0000

Are you the CEO of your company? If you’re a sales person, and you answered no to this question, think again. To be successful you must have a CEO mentality. All successful sales people view themselves as a business within a business. Never forget that the company you work for writes and signs your check, but you fill in the numbers. Always take responsibility for everything. You are the CEO.

What does a CEO do?

First of all, a CEO designs a marketing strategy. How do you get your business? Walk-ins, in-bound phone calls, repeats, prospecting, networking, referrals, bebacks, affiliate marketing programs, database mining, database swapping, niche marketing, seminars, websites, email responses with auto responders and sequential auto responders. Do you have at least one strategy for utilizing each one of these? Many people may not even know what many of these items are. The bad news is that you are way behind the top businesses in the world, but you can catch up and even pass the most productive sales people with dedicated strategy and smart actions.

Top sales people gain and maintain their results through many avenues beyond walk-in traffic. When you are new, you spend 80 percent of your time gaining new customers and 20 percent maintaining them. As each month goes by, your goal will be to reverse the time used to 80 percent maintaining current customers and 20 percent gaining new ones. To do this, you must develop a marketing web with multiple streams of lead generation. Lead generation = dollar creation.

If floor traffic dries up, you will have an excuse not to sell vehicles. From now on, excuses are not allowed. What is your strategy for walk-ins? Do you have a process? Does anyone besides you follow up with unsold customers? If you TO in person why not TO on the phone? Are you utilizing monthly planners or productivity software that allows you to automate your follow-up of sold and unsold customers by phone, mail and email? Do you have a monthly newsletter or, better yet, an email newsletter that reaches your customers unobtrusively and at zero-cost? There are companies that will set up auto responders with pre-set messages to be sent at certain intervals to your email list. This automates some of your follow-up to the point that it is being done while you sleep or are on vacation.

Have you set up affiliate programs with other businesses to share customers and provide an introduction to one another? Example, “Who does business with whom I want to do business with?” Ask that question first to think of businesses that you can set up reciprocal agreements with to provide a value proposition to their customers with enough leverage so they will want to call, fax or email you to get what you sell.

Most businesses utilize one-stage marketing. This requires running an ad and asking someone to buy. For many sales people, this is expensive and not effective. A better strategy is to form two or three stage marketing techniques. You are asking a customer to respond that they are interested and want more information. Here are some examples: Give a be-back cd to every customer who does not buy and ask them to play it on the way home. The cd should have two to five minutes of information that thanks them for the opportunity and provides them with specific reasons why they should buy your product from you, at your dealership. Give the customer an incentive to call you back. Arrange with a local restaurant that you will provide a coupon to every customer who shops or services with your dealership, an offer for two-for-one at the restaurant. In return, ask the restaurant to also reward their customers by giving each customer a coupon with their bill that provides a special offer from you, with enough leverage for the customer to respond for more information. Provide seminars for local groups on the subject of, “How to buy a vehicle and not get ripped off.” Do you know where the last 10 customers who have bought from you work and how you can set up automobile buying programs with their employer? If you let your mind expand, your wallet will follow.

You have two choices, you can use excuses like, “My managers won’t let me do anything,” “I don’t have the time,” “I have to make money right now,” or a million other excuses. Or, you can think of your business as a business and become the CEO with a long-term, committed strategy to grow expeditiously.

Read this book - Zero Stress Selling by Sue Kasson

admin — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 18:08:32 +0000

Zero Stress Selling by Sue Kasson is primer for effective attraction marketing and sales techniques. The techniques are simple, easy and effective. I am a living example because I have used each of the techniques in her book and can give testimony that they all work! A link to Amazon for Sue’s book - http://www.amazon.com/Zero-Stress-Selling-Strategies-ebook/dp/B006LQUAAM/

Complete Sales Freedom in Two Years or Less

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:24:22 +0000

Many sales people tend to always be chasing the next customer and worrying about the next paycheck. The good news is that this is unnecessary and can be fixed forever in two years or less. Sales people can eliminate future sales and income anxiety once and for all.

What’s the key to creating freedom? It’s marketing. If you are a sales person who is waiting for your business to provide an endless funnel of prospects and buyers, you are living in a fantasy land. Even with a ton of leads and traffic provided to you, you must have a marketing plan to utilize the traffic, leads and power of your customer base.

Write down everything you are doing to market yourself. Your goal should be to add to this list every month and strengthen or add dimensions to everything you already are doing. Eventually, you will begin to integrate your message from all your sources of marketing and the power of your marketing plan will begin to grow tremendously. You will appear to be everywhere at once. Your goal is to appear bigger, better and even more successful than you already are. Perception becomes reality.

All sales people should have direct mail in their marketing plan. The direct mail campaign should contain marketing letters that are geared towards multiple approaches, including: holidays, special events, news, new residents, existing customers, inactive customers, residents that surround existing customers, inactive customers, potential customers already using your service, newsletters and lead generation letters to potential customers offering a free report or service.

In your letters, utilize a consistent theme. You should, over time, make yourself a quasi-celebrity with your marketing. Always have a photo or caricature of you, or your family or staff in the marketing pieces. Make your likeness, theme and messages take on a status of recognition. Your marketing should grow legs and take on a life of its own that is enduring. Market share of mind creates greater market share.

Talk to people in your marketing in a personal and conversational tone. A great advertising person once said, “You must enter into the conversation they are already having in their head.” Don’t be afraid to be unique and controversial in your marketing. The worst mistake you can ever make in marketing is to be boring. There are way too many advertising messages today for you to put out just another look alike, same-old marketing piece that gets lost in the shuffle. Unique, bold, consistent and personal get rewarded today.

Don’t allow yourself to get caught in the excuse trap of saying, “I tried that once and it didn’t work.” You may not have done it right the first time; most don’t. That’s not a reason to quit.

Always think of the 3Ms – Message, Market and Media. What is your message? What is your marketplace you are delivering the message to, and does it match? What media will you use to reach the market?

The more you can target your message to a targeted audience, the better your results. There are list companies that can provide demographic, socio-graphic or just about any other filter you desire to qualify your potential and desired market. The old saying is that the best way to have a successful restaurant is to find a hungry crowd. You must also find your hungry crowd. Once you find them, you must bring them to you, gain them as customers, build a fence around them and never let them go.

The best way to create a sellable marketing approach in your message is to study copywriting and the masters of the craft. Writing copy for ads, letters, marketing pieces and newsletters that get people to take action is a learnable skill that will make you more money than robbing a bank. Study, practice and test your copywriting skills everyday. Nothing will teach you as much about sales, marketing and business as copywriting skills.

Learning to write copy, plan marketing sequences, doing the grunt work or hiring someone to do it certainly isn’t sexy. It won’t cure your traffic, lead or sales woes over night. But in the long run, they will be the things that make you successful, wealthy and free.

Let Your Fantasy Be Your Reality

admin — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:57:31 +0000

“In the mind of the beginner there are many possibilities, and in the mind of the expert there are few.” -Suzuki Roshi

What would you do in your sales career if you did not have limitations? Everyone has self-imposed limitations. These limitations can stem from several strong forces – environment, childhood experiences, workplace profiling, etc. Never allow anyone to pigeonhole you into who you supposedly are or who you are not.

People in your work environment continually judge you as to what your strengths and weaknesses are, and what you can or cannot do. You must realize that all of these evaluations are subjective. Opinions of you are simply that, opinions. What someone thinks of you does not necessarily have to have anything to do with who you are. The opinion that matters most is your own.

You create your own reality. Who you believe you are is who you will become. You are who you decide to be at any given moment. You really don’t need anything that you might be telling yourself you need. I call this the “When – Then” syndrome. Example – When I get this, then I will do this.” Imagine your limitations are written on a dry erase board. Simply erase them and then take action.

You must continually feed your subconscious mind with the images and messages of who you want to be. Your subconscious does not reject any images or messages. Therefore, what you impress, you express. The dominant messages and images win out, good or bad. Write down what you desire. Write it again and again until you can see it in your mind’s eye. Picture your desires in present tense, as if they have already occurred. Don’t let anyone detract from your mission.

The Most Important Customer

admin — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 17:48:04 +0000

Customer service is false propaganda.

Before you think I am nuts, let me explain. The factory gives customer service surveys and dealerships give customer surveys. Everyone seems to talk about Customer Satisfaction Indexes. Measuring your success and failure is obviously important. However, is customer service really about numbers? In customer service, the most important customers are the one’s who hate you the most and the one’s who do business with you the most.

People like to have nice things said about them. Every business owner and their employees would like to feel like they give good customer service. We all love the customer testimonial letters that praise us. How much time do you spend with the customers who don’t like you? How much time do you spend trying to cultivate ongoing relationships and purchases from your best customers?

The customers who don’t like you have a story to tell that can’t be told in numbers. If you want to really find out what your marketplace feels about you, ask the people who work at the gas station, local hotels and anyone who does not know where you work. One hour in a local eatery or tavern may give you more solid information about your dealership than all the surveys ever concocted in history.

When you find people in your marketplace that don’t like you or have a negative perception of your business, you must dig deeper to find out why. Remember that perception is reality to your marketplace. Discussions with your people in your marketplace can lead to simple changes that can lead to massive improvements — “Small holes cause big fl at tires.”

On the other hand, the old phrase that the customer is always right is bunch of baloney. The customer is not always right. Some things that make people upset with you may not only be acceptable for you but part of a purposeful plan. You cannot and should not try to be all things to all people. Define who your marketplace target is and begin to work towards them. Speak directly to them and treat them in a way they want to be treated. There are riches in niches. Targeting your primary audience and your best customers will pay you handsomely.

Your marketplace should be divided into five categories: 1) Active customers 2) Inactive customers 3) Customers of your competitors that own your brand 4) Customers of similar brands 5) General audience.

Write down three ways you currently contact and reward your current customers in an ongoing and even automated manner (and, by the way, three ways is not nearly enough). There is rarely a saturation point to customer contacts and rewards. Do you have a VIP Program for your best customers? Ten to 20 percent of your customers will reward you more than the other 80 percent combined. Your goal should be to take customers that do business with you — let’s call these customers supporters — and convert them to Advocates, who continually buy and service with you and refer you to your marketplace.

Do you have a written, automated campaign to convert inactive customers — ones who buy from you but don’t service with you? Do you have a three-stage letter campaign planned for inactive customers? Do you have an automated campaign involving e-mail, postcards, regular letters, dimensional mail, voice broadcast, phone calls, appreciation dinners/gatherings, special inducements, etc.?

Any dealership can have an intensive and automated process that involves all the necessary media, volume and correct copywriting that utilizes emotional direct response marketing methods that are necessary to retain their customers, reward their best customers and learn from their lost customers.

You must make a commitment to spending resources on the most important thing of all — your most important customers.

Swim With a Dolphin

admin — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 15:01:10 +0000

One idea to improve sales that most people don’t want to talk about is the ability to recharge your batteries. Salespeople who run on low batteries don’t perform as well as when they are charged up. Recently, I went with my family on a cruise and had a fantastic trip. We went scuba diving in Grand Turks and, during the dive, had three dolphins come up to us and play with us for most of the dive. The dive masters on the trip said it was a once in a lifetime experience to not only see the dolphins but to have them play with us for so long.

What if we had decided not to take the trip? What if our fears had kept us from becoming certified divers years ago? I have never left a vacation saying I should take less vacations. I have forgone vacations before because of business or other concerns. I think that’s shortsighted thinking. Vacations allow you to have those great experiences and recharge your batteries. You seem to have a different perspective after a vacation.

Have you ever skipped taking time off because of a lack of money or time? Consider the mindset that creates a perception of a lack of time or money. To replace a mindset of scarcity and lack, you must first take the time to step back, evaluate your thoughts and actions that have caused the scarcity and begin to change those thoughts and actions. Often, I think we all get so caught up in day to day actions and challenges that we lose our best perspective.

Proper rest is one of the key ingredients to good health. Proper rest includes the mind as well as the body. A few years ago, I made the choice to get one more hour of sleep a night. The difference in my vitality of mind and body was remarkable. Waking up with a clear mind and body can change your appearance and first perception of you by a customer. When you recharge your batteries, you allow your mind to give and receive answers it cannot do when you are tired.

So often our culture promotes the theory of hard work. I believe you don’t have to associate work with being hard. The connection that links up in your mind about work being hard and a grind can be counterproductive. Every salesperson will say there are times when they are on a roll and in the flow and everything they touch turns to gold. I don’t believe those times are accidental. I believe those periods of seemingly easy success are attributable to previous thought and actions. Those successful thoughts and actions are easier to achieve when you are rested and clear of anything blocking your mind or body.

Our culture tends to lend a great amount of macho to the theory of hard work. The theory of resting, thinking and recharging your batteries is looked at as weakness by many. In the last several years I have found the quality of work is more important than the endurance. Bad thoughts and actions done over a longer period of time can never be as productive as good thoughts and actions over a short period of time.

Parkinson’s Law theorizes that work fills up to the time allotted. The more time you allow, the more you find to do. The question is what are you really doing?

I would invite you today to analyze your time in one hour time slots and observe your most dominant thoughts and actions. Secondly, I would advise you to be very careful to look out for time wasters. Time wasters can be people, processes and normal activities you may not be paying attention to.

How much time do you spend answering cell phones, checking e-mail and doing redundant tasks? You might be amazed at what you find. Create a plan to eliminate the things from your life that are not productive and add to your stress. Never forget to recharge your batteries. Maybe even go swimming with the dolphins.

The Power of Now

admin — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 14:05:12 +0000

The intention of goal setting is to look toward the future and think of and plan for what you desire. Goals provide hope. My definition of hope is “Having Optimistic Predictions & Emotions.” However, goals can create your biggest stumbling block to getting what you desire.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “The only thing that will grow is that which you give energy to.” To focus your mind on what you desire is great. Concentrate on the why? “When the why gets strong the how gets easy.”

The Law of Attraction will bring to you what you think about. Your thoughts are impressed into your subconscious mind. “What you impress, you express.” All thoughts and actions will attract similar people and events that support your thought and action patterns. The Law of Attraction is an irrefutable universal law, supported by Meta-Physics and Quantum Physics.

Failure in goal setting comes in trying to get something rather than attracting it. Usually the obstacles anticipated when plotting to get something, rather than asking why you want it, create subconscious messages of struggle and difficulty. A person with the best of intentions can quickly tire of struggling and quit. This let down begins a pattern in the subconscious: struggle, frustration and failure. Reasons to lower standards or to quit can become a reality.

True power comes from knowing “you are who you decide to be at any given moment.” It doesn’t require jumping hurdles; it only takes deciding to become the person you desire. At that moment, by not seeing the how-to hurdles as obstacles, you will begin to think, act and become your desires. You may not know exactly how and when this is occurring, but you must trust that it is.

The root of the word “decide” means “to cut off.” Thus, to decide is to cut off from all other possibilities. This decision for your desires will propel your actions toward a much higher level. The people who succeed at such levels operate at greater consciousness than people who do not.

Understanding the power and process of your mind helps create exactly what you desire. Set goals and focus on what you want to happen, which will put into motion the energy, and through the Law of Attraction, will bring to you the people, things and events to match that energy.

The key to getting what you want is realizing the power of now. To get what you desire for the future, you must realize and accept that the creation and cultivation of your desire is this very moment. Decide, accept and act with the power of now.

Action

admin — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 13:07:09 +0000

What is the definition of action?

1. The state or process of acting or doing: The medical team went into action.

2. Something done or accomplished; a deed.

3. Organized activity to accomplish an objective: a problem requiring drastic action.

4. The causation of change by the exertion of power or a natural process: the action of waves on a beach; the action of a drug on blood pressure.

5. A movement or a series of movements, as of an actor.

6. Manner of movement: a horse with fine action.

7. Habitual or vigorous activity; energy: a woman of action.

8. Behavior or conduct. Often used in the plural.

Two things keep people from being successful. First, is the lack of leverage and the second is laziness. The good news is that both are not incurable diseases but they can be if left untreated. Let’s take a look at both and how to get rid of each one.

Leverage creates the tipping point that gets you moving and taking action. Leverage can come from wants, needs, fear, love, hate and other emotional triggers. All leverage points are good if you channel them correctly even if they start out as a bad emotion such as anger. Whatever gets you into action is a good start. If your leverage point is a negative emotion such as anger, at least you are moving and will notice that the longer you keep moving, the more likely you are to replace your negative leverage with something more positive.

Discover and get familiar with the, Why. When the Why gets clear, the HOW gets easy! It is impossible to create leverage without the why. You may not always quite understand the deeper meaning for your why but you must recognize the why before you take action.

It is okay to start with extremely small steps. You can even take small steps that are guaranteed to give yourself positive reinforcement. I call these points RPE’s – Recent Positive Experience. Recent Positive Experience leads to more thorough risk-reward behavior patterns. Most people do the opposite. Most people want the goal or success and focus solely on the goal without recognizing the steps.

Each new year I witness newcomers to the gym. They usually have found a leverage point of pain, the pain of being too fat or too unhealthy. What they see in the mirror causes pain. The pain becomes unbearable and they want to remove the pain. I think it is an incredible point in their life and I am amazed at their desire. Sadly, often the burning fire of desire quickly evaporates. The New Year Resolution Group comes in like a tornado and they begin to work really hard. However, after a week, they don’t see the results of the hard work. We have become an instant gratification society. We want our results and we want them now. Bailouts, drive-thru’s, video on demand are all based upon instant gratification and speed.

Quickly, despair sets in and people stop taking action and it adds to their failure board as further proof that they cannot win. The sad truth is that they were just days away from beginning to see the results they wanted. They quit too soon. Most people do. Here is the lesson. At first, focus on the action as the result. The reward is in the action. With continued and corrected action results are guaranteed. If you knew you could play a sport and win, would you do it? Of course you would! Your life and your goals are the exact same thing. You are absolutely guaranteed success before you even start. It is undeniable and cannot be refuted. It is a given.

Start off knowing you cannot lose unless you quit. Focus on how successful each action is by itself and how each day that goes by there are more actions strung together that provides proof of success. Eventually you will see results and gain competence. Competence = Confidence. The more confidence you have the more you are likely to continue. Simply, look for reasons for your markers of success rather than your markers of failure. You may not always get the results when you want them or how you want them but you will get results. Stop beating yourself up and start giving yourself credit.

Start your journey by writing down what you want and then keep a journal of your actions and success. Read that journal and create a blueprint in your brain that reinforces you, your journey and success. After all, the true reward is the journey to the goal and not the goal itself. Give your subconscious testimonial proof of success for each action. If you are too tired or lack desire to do what you need to do just look at the journal and take one step. Just one step and then another. Eventually you have given yourself proof that even on your bad days you are an unstoppable force.

Divide your big goal into small goals and take one section at a time. Anything is possible this way and most things seem impossible any other way. Get yourself a reinforcement coach. We all know someone who is a positive influence that knows how to get you going. If you don’t, start looking and asking. Everyone needs a coach. The best of the best and the smartest of the smartest have coaches. People who are too good or too smart to have coaches are destined to fail eventually. Arrogance kills.

If you are looking for inspiration, think of something or someone greater than yourself. It is usually harder for us to let someone else down than ourselves. Make a commitment to someone else. Make a commitment to something good that rewards someone else when you reach your goal. Most importantly, make a commitment. What do you have to gain and what do you have to lose? What is most likely? The answer is usually in between. Don’t let your subconscious grow your fear to be so large that it irrationally keeps you from taking action. Most fear is irrational and keeps you unhappy in disguise as a way to keep you from getting hurt. Fear is paying interest on a debt not yet due. Just take action….

If you are lazy, lazy is not a terminal condition. First of all, laziness is a label given as permanent and is nothing more than a state of mind perpetuated into reality. Change your mind to change your reality. Ask yourself, what will I be like in 5 years, 10 years, 20 years if I keep this laziness up? What will I be as an example? If I were being interviewed at 100 years old about my life, what would I say? Would I be proud?

Where did all of this incredibly negative labeling begin for you? Where did it start? Write the word lazy on a dry erase board and erase it. Write down all the attributes of someone who is not lazy and someone you would admire. See yourself in your “mind’s eye” with those attributes being that person. Remember, what someone else says or thinks about you, has nothing to with YOU. You decide who you are and who you are is who you decide to be at any given moment. Simply decide this moment.

Here are some tips:

1) Start your morning differently

2) Write, write, and write what you want

3) Take one step at a time

4) Focus on the small actions as much as the result – RPE’s

5) Get a coach

6) Find the why

7) Create a new label

Write down one action you will take today and put it on your mirror

9) Focus on the good

10) Give yourself proof of winning

11) Cut out the cancer – Cancerous things, people, and surroundings

12) Ask yourself each day, how did I do?

13) Don’t beat yourself up. You are not perfect and no one is

14) Bombard your brain with positive influence – read, listen and watch good stuff

15) Give yourself permission to have set backs. It’s part of the process. Everyone has setbacks and no one and I mean no one goes through life unscathed. Who would want to? Your life is a story and a story without challenges would be boring as hell and there would be nothing to learn.

Remember: You are perfect for where you are supposed to be right now and where you are now is perfect. It is perfect because without you being who you are right now and where you are right now, there is no way you could be who you will be and where you will be in the future. Celebrate that you are perfect in your imperfection!

Thanks and Best Wishes,

Mark Tewart, author of How To Be A Sales Superstar

www.marktewartlive.com

www.marktewart.com www.tewart.com

info@tewart.com

888 2 Tewart (888 283-9278)

P.S. To find out how to increase your business bottom line by $250,000 or more and how to qualify for your business makeover, email me at info@tewart.com with the words business makeover in the subject line

I Want To Think About It

admin — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 18:01:45 +0000

“I want to think about it.”

Baloney. If you believe and allow this excuse from customers, you and your family will be eating Ramen Noodle soup your whole career. When customers tell you they want to think about it, they are really telling you they either have an unspoken objection or they are not convinced that you or your product and service is right for them.

The next time a couple tells you that they want to think about it, watch them as they get out of earshot of you. They will turn to each other and begin to talk about why they are not buying. Whether it’s an objection or a concern, it’s going to boil down to Money, Me or Machine. Money can be price, terms, payments etc. The ‘Me’ portion can be you, the business or service reputation or ability. The Machine segment is your product or service.

First you have to identify the customer’s possible thoughts and emotions. Customers have three forms of spoken and unspoken communication when they say, “I want to think it over.”

• What they are saying

• What they are trying to say

• What they really mean

To get past the smokescreen of “I want to think about it,” you must listen to and understand what they are saying and onto what the customer is trying to say and what they really mean.

When you hear the dreaded stall or objection phrase, don’t do what the majority of salespeople do. Do not ask the customer, “What is it that you want to think over?” With that phrase you create a “Turtle Customer.” They are going to feel threatened or embarrassed and pull into their shell. You will force them to feel scared, embarrassed or intimidated and they are going to run like rabbits.

When you hear the objection, the first step is to agree with them by saying, “Sure, I understand, it’s a big decision so you should take your time.” Next, move your customer to the future. The future does not carry the pressure that today does. “Mr. Customer, if it were a week or a month from now and you had given everything consideration and were ready to make a decision, do you think the No. 1 consideration or thing that had held you up from buying would have been the machine or the money?” Notice, I didn’t mention the “you” portion because the customer would usually be too embarrassed to say you were the problem. Most likely if they are still with you, the problem is the product/service or the money.

If it’s the product or service, it’s easy to suggest alternatives that might fit what they are looking for. A salesperson without alternatives fails by a lack of alternatives. If money is the issue, then break the money portion down — Price, Payment, Down Payment, Monthly Payment, Term, Rates etc. Ask, “Mr. Customer what part of the money is the most important to you?” and then give the possibilities.

Next you must move them to close. “Mr. Customer, in the future, when you are making your decision to purchase and feel good about the payments, would the payments be ____, ______ or ______?” Give stair stepped based options on whatever it is that is their main concern. Customers feel less threatened about options and feel like they are in control. The customer will feel less embarrassed in sharing with you what they can and are willing to do.

When you get the answer from the customer, use the “Up to” and “No more than” phrases to raise the customer’s thinking and commitment. Example — “$500 up to?” “Now if you really had to, no more than?”

Notice that the art of closing this sale is not about closing, but about opening possibilities. You must open to be able to close. To get past the “I’ll think it over” objection, you must listen closely and try to really understand what the customer is communicating. You must move the customer forward in a manner that lessens the customer’s anxieties, rather than increases them. All of these steps must be performed with confidence and with an attitude of TLC – “Think Like a Customer.”

Kill The Wolf

admin — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 13:07:05 +0000

What’s the common image of a salesperson? The big bad wolf.

The big bad wolf seeks and destroys. It’s a predator who pounces on its prey, eats the weak and leaves a bloody mess behind. This image makes the job of salespeople a lot harder than it should be. The good news is that this creates an opportunity to kill the wolf and turn the negative into a positive.

If you were to ask 10 customers what they hate about salespeople and the buying experience, you’d get an earful. Take each of those answers and list when it occurs in the sequence of your normal sales process. Begin to review the list and sequence with a TLC Mindset (Think Like a Customer).

Picture your customer, or even yourself as a customer, in the buying process and the negative experience. Remember, perception is reality: Selling is nothing more than helping customers solve problems in a manner they feel positive about. The key word is “feel.” Emotions are key to everything in life, including sales and the buying experience.

In marketing and sales, you must constantly remove the barriers of entry for a customer. Picture a road with potholes, detours and obstacles and the emotions they create when encountered. This is exactly what a customer feels every time they encounter a barrier in your buying process.

Begin to think in terms of proactively eliminating each barrier. Now take this a step further and begin to promote the differences in a manner that separates you from the competition in a manner that is positive but not arrogant. Create a funnel process that allows the customer to move effortlessly and positively through the process.

Old school training methods that are based upon closing deals rather than opening relationships are dead. Consumers are too educated, have too many choices and demand a better experience today. Don’t continue your current sales process just because that’s the way you have always done it or because of the worst philosophy ever spoken – “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Create a selling philosophy and process that becomes a part of your brand, your defining message and your culture. I guarantee it’s easier to recruit, hire and train winning salespeople with this philosophy and process.

Begin by analyzing everything from the initial contact on a phone call, a visit to your Web site or when they pull into your business. I can think of at least five negative things that occur in a traditional meet and greet and 10 absolute deal killers that occur at least 50 percent of the time or more when you are profiling and interviewing customers. For a list of these deal killers, along with 10 suggestions to improve your process, feel free to e-mail me at the address below.