The worst time to talk about money is after you have delivered the proposal or quote. If the price was too high then you will find yourself backpedaling as you deal with sticker shock. Negotiations will ensue (Hopefully they will … the prospect could just say thanks and disappear!) concessions will be made, margins will slip, time will be lost, credibility will be harmed or else the prospect will just go somewhere else. If the price is too low … you may never know about it. However, you will have left money on the table. If you gave the goldilocks price (just right) … consider yourself lucky. The best policy is to discuss money before you ever sit down to write the quote or proposal. None of the problems above will happen and you will be goldilocks every time. Here is a one-minute video that expands on the point.

… unless, of course, you are selling something for their own personal use. Here is why:
• Their incentive is to save money. i.e. reduce your price
• They don’t know much about the use of the product or service beyond what is written in the specifications.
• They don’t know anything about the problem your product or service is designed to fix.
• Your value proposition is lost on them
• Once you start in the purchasing department, it is virtually impossible to get to the end user without causing the purchasing department to be upset.
They are an important part of the sales process. You will probably end up dealing with the purchasing department. Just don’t start there.

Most salespeople spend too much time thinking when in front of a prospect. I am not suggesting that you turn your brain off. But if you are strategizing on the fly about your next move, analyzing what the prospect just said, or thinking about how to solve the problem, you are not listening to what the prospect is saying and you will miss clues or indications that you should follow up with a question. So don’t think! Stay present with the prospect and you will get more and deeper information. click the link to see a short video on the subject.

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I am not talking about an arrogant confrontational communication style that many people use quite naturally. I am talking about salespeople who avoid confrontation of all types at all times. Salespeople who are always totally agreeable come across as weak and more importantly waste a lot of time with unqualified prospects. Here are two occasions when you need to confront a prospect:

1. When the prospect contradicts himself subtly as follows: “Our operations department is losing money.” … Five minutes later, “We are happy with the way things are.” This example is rather blatant and it is obvious that you need to confront the prospect by saying “… I guess I don’t understand how you can be happy when you are losing money.” Blatant as the example is, salespeople let the prospects slide with contradictions like this every day.

2. When the prospect says something mildly positive about your product or service; such as “What you have looks very interesting.” If you take that and keep moving, you will soon find yourself writing a quote for an unqualified prospect. The optimal salesperson pushes back with “really, … why?”.

Both of these examples are mild forms of confrontation and yet they will change the nature of the conversation, yield prospects that are more qualified or eliminate them before you have a chance to waste any time or money on them. This 1-minute video will show you how a healthy dose of skepticism is invaluable.

Click here to view video

No! It is not closing business. No! It is not qualifying prospects. These are very important and are of course how salespeople are ultimately paid. However, the number one priority for sales people is prospecting … Building a pipeline. Put enough people in your pipeline and no matter how bad you are at the qualifying and closing you will hit your goal. Yes, I know that if you are better at qualifying and closing you need fewer prospects. However, the secret to success in sales is consistent daily prospecting; not wild periods of activity interspersed with long periods of doing nothing. I would rather be a master prospector than be a master closer and have no one to work my magic on!

Here is a one-minute video that speaks to this topic.

Why do some salespeople struggle while others excel? If you are ready to leave conventional thinking behind on what it takes to consistently excel in selling then listen to Jim Lobaito’s interview with Dan Caramanico on his book, The Optimal Salesperson. Mastering the Mindset of Sales Superstars and Overachievers

Click and Listen Below

When building a salesforce look for people who have a strong desire for personal financial success and a commitment to doing what it takes to get there. This combination of desire and commitment will ensure that they have sufficient motivation to overcome whatever obstacles occur. Skills, techniques and technical knowledge are easier to instill in an employee than a drive to succeed.

Desire is Critical

Desire is the single most important characteristic for a sales person to possess. Without desire a salesperson will not grow and reach new levels of production. Recent studies have shown it is a reliable indicator of success in many fields. Everyone has experienced athletes with tremendous skill and God-given talent who fail because they have no “heart”. Everyone knows a brilliant student who achieves nothing in life because they are afraid to take a risk and suffer from the “paralysis of analysis”. Yet the world is full of examples of men and women who overcame major obstacles and achieved great success when everyone “knew” they were ill-equipped for the task at hand.

Commitment is Irreplaceable

Desire without a commensurate level of commitment is just wishful thinking! Commitment must be unconditional if true greatness is to be achieved. Commitment is the willingness to do whatever it takes, no matter what, to achieve the goal. Commitment and desire complement each other. It is hard to have much commitment unless the goal is meaningful and worth your time and effort. How committed would you be to do something uncomfortable (like a cold call for example) if all you got was an extra $1, How about $100, how about $1,000 or $50,000, or a solution to world hunger or to save your child’s life? If the smallest of obstacles will defeat you, there is no chance of success. Nothing can replace commitment. Talent can not. There are plenty of talented people too discouraged to act. Skills can not. Major obstacles usually come with stress and pressure. Skills go unused in the face of pressure and stress without the commitment to act. Good intentions come across as cheerleading when the will to act is missing due to lack of commitment. Commitment to the achievement of a meaningful goal is what drives a salesperson to succeed.

How do you Know if They Have It?

So how do you know if a sales person has desire? The most reliable indicator of desire is the goals the individual has. A person with high desire not only has goals but they are written and are broken down into short and long term and there is a plan for achieving them. The really successful person not only has written goals but also has a plan for monitoring progress toward the goals. Another way to measure desire is by looking at the person’s history. What goals did they set and what obstacles did they overcome to reach them. Did they stick to the goal when the going got rough? Were the goals aggressive? Did they pick the easy way out? I have been told by college basketball recruiters that anyone can spot talent. But the real challenge in recruiting high school stars who will succeed at the next level is to measure the heart of the player. This is the same challenge faced when you are hiring a salesperson to help your company grow. Don’t be blinded by the glitz of the resume or the smoothness of the interviewing skills. These are obviously important factors but a candidate with the unrelenting desire to succeed should be a major prerequisite for any new salesperson you hire.