Archives for April 2018

Pushing back on a prospect can be difficult, especially for salespeople with lots of need for approval. If you are one of those who finds it difficult to disagree with an assumption the prospect is making or the decision they are about to make, then you need a way to push back without triggering your own self-limiting beliefs. It’s a very simple technique. All you have to do is ask the prospector permission to push back. It might go like this. “I understand what you are saying Frank. But is it OK if I push back a little?” That is all there is to it. This simple technique has the power to change the direction of your sales calls and have a dramatic effect on your future income.

Listening to your self-talk is way more important to listening to yourself talk. Everyone knows that listening is an important skill in sales. But have you ever listened to what you say to yourself? You say things like “I can’t ask that question because it might upset the prospect”. Or you might hear yourself say “our prices are high. I better sharpen my pencil”; or, “this is a big deal. I better not ask any tough questions. I don’t want to rock the boat”. Sometimes these are only faint ideas in the back of your head so you have to listen very carefully. More importantly, it pays to ask yourself questions at the end of each call. This is called debriefing yourself. Ask ‘why did I say that” or “why didn’t I say that”. There are many other questions (just think of what your sales manager might ask and you will come up with plenty). Asking those questions will force you to come up with a reason. The reason you give yourself is almost always a self-limiting belief. The first step to overcoming a self-limiting belief is understanding what they are. So listen carefully to your self-talk. It helps you grow as a salesperson and it is more productive than listening to yourself talk.

Complacency happens when you think you have “finally gotten it”. You relax. You stop paying attention to what got you there. And that is when the fundamentals of being the Optimal Salesperson which you worked so hard on go out the window. Next thing you know you are trying to work your way out of a slump and wondering how you got there. Everyone has been there and it is so easy to avoid. Just pay constant (read that as daily) attention to the fundamentals of selling. Sure, week by week you can add a little something here and there. Work on a belief system that is getting in your way for a month. Practice a new questioning technique for a week. It never hurts to continually hone your skills. But don’t ignore the basics. Mastery of anything comes from constant repetition of the basics. It’s true that pro golfers can do things with the ball mere mortals can only dream of. But that doesn’t mean they can forget about taking the proper stance over the ball, grip firmly and follow through appropriately. Musicians make their instruments “sing” but they still need to pay attention to how to play the basic notes. To become a true master, you have to continually work on the fundamentals. And make sure that you execute them every time. the only way to do that is to critically review each sales call against your sales process and evaluate whether you could have done better on some parts of the call. It doesn’t have to take long, 5 minutes at the end of a call is all it takes.

Getting outside your comfort zone is scary. Inside your comfort zone you feel confident, knowledgeable and above all safe. But outside your comfort zone who knows what will happen! “They could reject me if I push too hard”. “They could get mad at me if I call too often”. “I could blow the whole deal with that question”. If you have ever had any of these thoughts or similar ones, then you know that you have bumped up against the walls of your comfort zone. The most common reaction is to retreat well within the confines of the very safe comfort zone. But growth demands that we break through those walls. The interesting thing is that whatever we are afraid of happening when we go to the other side of the comfort zone … usually never happens. What is even more astounding is that life outside of your comfort zone can be much easier. If I am afraid to ask tough questions for fear of what will happen, I most probably will end up working harder with less qualified prospects with far less results. Once I get comfortable with asking better questions, they seem far less risky. Therefore, I ask them regularly and get better and richer information. I disqualify many prospects quicker and increase my chances of success with the ones I do pursue. I therefore spend less time making more money. Who doesn’t love that? But it all starts with asking what seems to be a tough question and breaking out of your comfort zone. Once you realize that life is easier outside the walls of your current comfort zone, you will have the motivation to take the risk and ask those questions or do other sales-related things that scare you today.