The Selling Sherpa

Sales Tip of the Day: TURN THE PAGE

In October, I asked Sales Tip subscribers to share their favorite book/blog on sales and/or professional development. 

A record number of responses led to over 100 titles being suggested and, at last, I can share the results with you.

Arranged in order of popularity, the Top 3 Professional Sales Library books are:

#1 - Sales Bible: The Ultimate Sales Resource by Jeffrey Gitomer
The Sales Bible offers the proven methods and techniques that lead to bigger sales and more loyal customers. Full of practical, hands-on information, it offers everything salespeople need to know to improve their results immediately.

#2 - The Little Red Book of Selling: 12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness by Jeffrey Gitomer
The Little Red Book of Selling is short, sweet, and to the point. It's packed with answers that people are searching for in order to help them make sales for the moment -- and for the rest of their lives.

#3 - How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
For more than sixty years the rock-solid, time-tested advice in this book has carried thousands of now famous people up the ladder of success in their business and personal lives.

Jeffrey Gitomer is far and away the most popular author among respondents, with The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless/Customer Loyalty is Priceless, Little Red Book of Selling, Little Red Book of Sales Answers, and Little Black Book of Connections all being nominated for inclusion in the Top 3 list.

If you haven’t already started assembling your own Professional Sales Library, perhaps you should pick these three up and start turning the pages.

To everyone who selected The Selling Sherpa/YOU ROCK!™ as a worthy resource, I appreciate the vote of confidence.  Coming in 4th behind Gitomer and Carnegie is pretty cool.

[Want the entire list?  Send an email with “2009 LIBRARY” in the subject line and I’ll share it with you.]

© 2009 YOU ROCK!™ Communications

THE REQUEST LINE IS OPEN! - IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT A SALES OR  MARKETING TOPIC, OR HAVE A SPECIFIC PROBLEM YOU WANT HELP WITH, SEND ME AN E-MAIL WITH FULL DETAILS AND I MAY GIVE YOU SOME ANSWERS IN AN UPCOMING SALES TIP.

Sales Tip of the Day: YOU GOT WHAT IT TAKES

Have you ever taken over someone else’s client list?

Maybe you just started at a company that had an opening on the sales team, or perhaps you inherited a list from someone who was promoted or left the region.

Whatever the situation, you may feel a little uncertain about approaching customers who’ve gotten used to working with someone else.

Just make sure you are thoroughly prepared before you meet them for the first time.

Research the history of the account, the background of the decision-maker(s), and as much information about the market and competition as you can.

The goal is NOT to show off how much you know; it IS to be be as familiar as possible with the details so you can competently answer any questions, offer relevant information, and let the customer see that you got what it takes to serve their needs.

© 2009 YOU ROCK!™ Communications

THE REQUEST LINE IS OPEN! - IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT A SALES OR  MARKETING TOPIC, OR HAVE A SPECIFIC PROBLEM YOU WANT HELP WITH, SEND ME AN E-MAIL WITH FULL DETAILS AND I MAY GIVE YOU SOME ANSWERS IN AN UPCOMING SALES TIP. 

Sales Tip of the Day: THE LOCOMOTION

On this day in 1988, The Locomotion became the first single to reach the Top 5 in the US in three different releases.

Back in 1962, it hit #1 for Little Eva, then it hit #1 again in 1974 for Grand Funk Railroad, and made it to #3 for Kylie Minogue in 1988.

Have you seen the famous pumpkin-carving kits with the small tools featuring plastic handles that are orange?  What about the newer watermelon-carving kits with the same tools except for the green color?

What do either of these have to do with selling?  Plenty!

The concept is called “repackaging” and it could be a goldmine for you.

By tailoring the song to current trends in music, or the kit to different purposes, it became possible to sell to people who had never heard or seen the originals.  And, in some cases, people who loved the originals bought the repackaged versions, as well.

How can you repackage what you sell to reach an entirely new audience?

What would your sales look like if you suddenly had a new market to sell to?

© 2009 YOU ROCK!™ Communications

THE REQUEST LINE IS OPEN! - IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT A SALES OR  MARKETING TOPIC, OR HAVE A SPECIFIC PROBLEM YOU WANT HELP WITH, SEND ME AN E-MAIL WITH FULL DETAILS AND I MAY GIVE YOU SOME ANSWERS IN AN UPCOMING SALES TIP.

Sales Tip of the Day: KISS HIM GOODBYE

 

Once in awhile, we all end up dealing with a customer situation that is difficult.  But there are customers who seem to be difficult no matter what.

Whenever you find yourself spending a lot of time with one problematic customer, it might be time to assess whether or not that customer is really worth all the extra effort.

The time you burn trying to make them happy might be better spent on customers that are a better fit and not as high maintenance.

If you find yourself baby-sitting a problem customer too often, kiss him goodbye and move on to more profitable (or at least less difficult) prospects.

© 2009 YOU ROCK!™ Communications

THE REQUEST LINE IS OPEN! - IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT A SALES OR  MARKETING TOPIC, OR HAVE A SPECIFIC PROBLEM YOU WANT HELP WITH, SEND ME AN E-MAIL WITH FULL DETAILS AND I MAY GIVE YOU SOME ANSWERS IN AN UPCOMING SALES TIP.

Sales Tip of the Day: SOME THING ARE BETTER LEFT UNSAID

How often do you make a call to a prospect or customer, get their voicemail, and leave some basic info and then ask the person to call you back?

You shouldn’t do it at all!

I don’t mean you shouldn’t leave a voicemail.  I am saying you shouldn’t have to say, “call me back.”

If you called your client with information or assistance they have asked for, or to follow up on a previous promise, they already know they need to call you back.

So the next time you leave a voicemail, just tell them who you are, the best number to reach you, and the reason you called.

If they are interested, they will call you back.  If not, they won’t, and no amount of pleading will change that.

© 2009 YOU ROCK!™ Communications

THE REQUEST LINE IS OPEN! - IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT A SALES OR  MARKETING TOPIC, OR HAVE A SPECIFIC PROBLEM YOU WANT HELP WITH, SEND ME AN E-MAIL WITH FULL DETAILS AND I MAY GIVE YOU SOME ANSWERS IN AN UPCOMING SALES TIP.

Sales Tip of the Day: EVERYBODY’S EVERYTHING

Wouldn’t it be great if everyone in the world was your customer?

It’s fun to daydream about, but you really don’t need to have that many customers to be successful.  

Truth is, you only need a strong core of loyal fans to really do well, regardless of what you sell.  The key is to know who they are and cater directly to them.

Narrow your focus, pinpoint your marketing, and serve only the people or business who are a perfect fit for what you sell.  Find out who your best customers are and shower them with attention, service, and value.  Concentrate on being the best option for your select clientele.  

If you do, your business will surely grow faster than if you tried to be everybody’s everything.

© 2009 YOU ROCK!™ Communications

THE REQUEST LINE IS OPEN! - IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT A SALES OR  MARKETING TOPIC, OR HAVE A SPECIFIC PROBLEM YOU WANT HELP WITH, SEND ME AN E-MAIL WITH FULL DETAILS AND I MAY GIVE YOU SOME ANSWERS IN AN UPCOMING SALES TIP.

Sales Tip of the Day: WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW

 

A couple of years ago, a colleague in broadcast radio was doing an on-air interview with Gwen Stefani as she was embarking on a solo tour away from her band, No Doubt.

The interview was going well...right up until the host asked how Gwen’s dog “Lamb” was doing.  Had her pre-interview research been thorough, she would have known that the pet had passed away earlier that year.  Ouch!

She recovered and managed to make it through the rest of the interview.  Gwen was gracious about it, but I could hear a slight change in her voice and knew it meant she was remembering the sadness of her loss.

When you are on a sales call, you run the same risk when you casually ask your prospect about personal topics (like family, home, politics and religion) or subjects you are not well-versed in.

Don’t talk about what you don’t know about.  If you do, you run the risk of irritating the prospect and making yourself look foolish.

Unless you know the person well, or have done extensive research, your best bet is to stick with what you know: the benefits of your product, service or treatment, and the questions that will lead your prospect to consider purchasing it.

© 2009 YOU ROCK!™ Communications

THE REQUEST LINE IS OPEN! - IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT A SALES OR  MARKETING TOPIC, OR HAVE A SPECIFIC PROBLEM YOU WANT HELP WITH, SEND ME AN E-MAIL WITH FULL DETAILS AND I MAY GIVE YOU SOME ANSWERS IN AN UPCOMING SALES TIP.

Sales Tip of the Day: RIGHT NOW

Borrowing from portions of the music video for Van Halen’s “Right Now”:

    Right now opportunity is passing you by...while you complain that nobody is buying.

    Right now you could be outside...the office meeting people who aren’t customers yet.

    Right now somebody’s got the wrong idea...about what you sell but they could be corrected.

    Right now time is having its way with you...while you wait for someone to call you back.

    Right now keeps happening...whether or not you take action to make a sale.

Do you really want to succeed in sales?  If so, make the decision right now to accept nothing less than your best effort every day.  

Demand more from yourself than any sales manager ever could and you can become the sales champion of your industry.

Decision made?  Good!

Right now, I am going to go make a sale.

What are you going to do?

© 2009 YOU ROCK!™ Communications

THE REQUEST LINE IS OPEN! - IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT A SALES OR  MARKETING TOPIC, OR HAVE A SPECIFIC PROBLEM YOU WANT HELP WITH, SEND ME AN E-MAIL WITH FULL DETAILS AND I MAY GIVE YOU SOME ANSWERS IN AN UPCOMING SALES TIP.

Sales Tip of the Day: HOLD ON

In most organizations, every year comes with a certain level of customer churn; that is, a certain percentage of your existing customers will, for whatever reason, decide to stop buying from you.

Every time you deliver less than they expect, or delay a return call, or fail to bring them more value, you give them one more reason to wonder who might serve them better.  And sometimes they find what they are looking for.

Most sales teams will put an emphasis on identifying, contacting, and convincing new customers to replace those who have left.

Problem is, acquiring new customers usually take a lot more time and effort than it does to keep the ones you got.

So, it stands to reason that you can actually increase overall sales volume by a large margin in less time by simply making it a priority to hold on to the customers you already own.

Use every idea, skill, and tactic to hold on to all of them.

© 2009 YOU ROCK!™ Communications

THE REQUEST LINE IS OPEN! - IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT A SALES OR  MARKETING TOPIC, OR HAVE A SPECIFIC PROBLEM YOU WANT HELP WITH, SEND ME AN E-MAIL WITH FULL DETAILS AND I MAY GIVE YOU SOME ANSWERS IN AN UPCOMING SALES TIP.

Sales Tip of the Day: WHY

Every now and then, even the most professional salesperson will miss a sale.

Yes, I know, hard to believe, but it might even happen to you.

But there is one thing you can do that most other salespeople will never bother with: ask the prospect why.

Don’t ask in a pleading or pathetic way; but, in a very matter-of-fact manner, ask them if they can share with you the factors that led to their decision.  

Explain that you always looking for ways to improve your effectiveness as a communicator, and their feedback will help you ensure you are delivering value for all of your clients.

Don’t wonder what happened when a sale is lost.

Always ask why.

© 2009 YOU ROCK!™ Communications

THE REQUEST LINE IS OPEN! - IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT A SALES OR  MARKETING TOPIC, OR HAVE A SPECIFIC PROBLEM YOU WANT HELP WITH, SEND ME AN E-MAIL WITH FULL DETAILS AND I MAY GIVE YOU SOME ANSWERS IN AN UPCOMING SALES TIP.