Matthew G. Sikich II is The Official SelfGrowth.com Guide to "Sales Training". You can find complete information on Matthew G. Sikich II and his products by visiting The 5 Buying Habits.
Cold calling would never be my first recommendation for success, but there are times when you may have no alternative. So, why not learn how to do it well if you have to do it anyway. There are a few simple things you can do to do it better and have greater success.
If ... Views: 539
Anyone who has had children in daycare during the past 15 years has heard the term ‘listening ears.’ Children are asked to put theirs on all the time. Interestingly, we forget that rule as adults.
What ears do you listen with? To your co-workers, clients, prospects, family, friends? When it ... Views: 1346
The way you're trained to ask for referrals is pushy, obnoxious, and downright embarrassing. You hate it and your clients hate it, and it does nothing to further you’re relationship. You ask clever questions like, who are the three people who speak most highly of you.
Choke, ... Views: 1204
Isn't it true that before you can ever sell anyone anything you have to sell them on having an appointment? Do you find it challenging to fill your appointment book? Wouldn’t you like to hold appointments each week with people who are genuinely interested in doing business with you? ... Views: 563
Persistence is good, but not if you're persistently doing the wrong things. That's just being pig headed and stupid. But you do it because you allow yourself to be mislead into thinking that sales is a numbers game and that if you just keeping doing it you’ll eventually get what you ... Views: 543
Ten Steps to Persuasive Sales Presentations
By Diane DiResta
Selling is the life blood of any business and we are all in sales. Are your presentations as professional and persuasive as they could be? Follow these simple guidelines to make your sales presentations sparkle.
1. Start with a ... Views: 2403
I can’t help but be reminded of Edvard Munch’s painting, The Scream, every time I speak with a salesperson or professional who is complaining about the ineffectiveness of their marketing.
In the painting, Munch places a man on a bridge, hands to mouth, screaming as loudly as he can. Behind ... Views: 1085
There is no one-thing that makes a sales leader great. But, there is definitely one thing that can make them poor - an inability to coach and develop their employees.
Tell a salesperson to go sell and he will struggle for a day, teach him how to sell and he will sell for life. Ok, so that is ... Views: 826
Integrity in sales starts when you look someone in the eye, shake their hand and introduce yourself.
If you start off the relationship by being disingenuous about your position why would anyone want to buy from you?
Since the early 90's the word "consultant" has become the buzz-word for sales ... Views: 877
When you begin to learn how to sell you’re learning at a conceptual level. Everything you read and hear sounds pretty good. After all it has worked for other people it should work for you, right?
Well, yes and no. Yes, it has worked for other people. But you aren’t other ... Views: 568
There's plenty of competition for the price shoppers, and you don't want to play that game. Price shoppers are the worst clients you could ever ask for, so why would you ever want to attract them? But that’s exactly what you’re doing when you offer to quote someone insurance. ... Views: 502
It’s been said often, “Some folks can’t seem to see the forest for the trees.” Perhaps that’s true in any arena, but it seems that it’s rampant in sales, especially when sales are down. Time after time, when sales start to fall we find sales people becoming ... Views: 1086
Aren't you selling your service rather than a product? So what are you doing marketing products? Stop trying to market or sell products and start increasing your sales.
Dan Kennedy talks about the technique of selling money at a discount. And that’s exactly what you should ... Views: 964
Do you want to shake up your sales results? It's time to rethink you're approach and come up with a plan that will produce results. A strategic sales action plan provides an implementable quantifiable path to significantly improve your results.
Let’s begin by identifying the key ... Views: 3471
Face it most people don't really understand insurance and they don't want to. When you make the complicated simple people will buy and they will buy from you. And there are two very good reasons for that.
First, when you make it simple you remove a lot of the risk involved in a ... Views: 488
Manually entering contact information into a database is a tedious and distracting task to busy sales professionals. Focused on that month's target and existing deals in the pipeline, crucial contact information is often entered inaccurately or not entered at all. That partial or missing ... Views: 1614
Why don't prospects buy? It's no secret they don't buy because they feel buying is too risky. And they have a very valid concern. With the wrong decision they can get locked into products that are completely wrong for them and too costly to walk away from.
It’s your job to ... Views: 559
What's your Magic Number?
The most successful businesses — and certainly, sales departments — have identified their Key Performance Indicators (KPI); individual gateways that directly effect the outcome of a particular process. Then they measure the competency ratios in line with them.
Have ... Views: 3164
When in Rome… Do as the Romans Do
Ask any CFO what their first impression is when they hear the words ‘Sales Training’ and they might communicate back their ‘Real world’ vocabulary of ‘un-accountable’ and ‘un-measurable’. Simply put, they ... Views: 886
As a sales professional or business owner, you’re always selling yourself or your product. Whether you’re attending a networking event or trade show, you only have a few seconds to introduce yourself and grab the prospect’s attention. Do you remember how you introduced yourself to a prospect at ... Views: 740
The secret to influence isn't what you probably expect. The big secret to powerful influence is in the way you listen. You have to know how to listen to unlock this powerful influencing force.
Effective listening isn’t a natural skill and you make it unnecessarily hard for ... Views: 583
You probably think creativity is something those artsy aesthetics types have. You may be surprised to know that creativity is a learned skill. And you may be ever more surprised to learn that creativity can be a skill that leads to improved sales techniques.
Creativity is just a thought ... Views: 528
Are you tired of hearing "no" and "not now" when the answer should be "yes"? Accept responsibility and start getting "yes". There are three reasons you’re being told “no” and “not now” when the answer should be “yes”.
The first reason is ... Views: 532
There are many skills and traits that help define successful salespeople. These traits are beneficial regardless of whether you sell products, services or your ideas. Developing these skills will benefit every entrepreneur and business owner who must deal with others to transact business. ... Views: 2032
Here's a sales tip, especially for new salespeople. Here are the 2 biggest mistakes most salespeople make.
1. Thinking you’ve got the right stuff from the get go! Once you think you’ve got it, you’ve had it!
Don't be too quick to be full of yourself. And remember - you probably don't know ... Views: 934
In his great military treatise, The Art of War, Chinese general Sun Tzu laid the plans for victory in any battle. Whether you’re a real estate investor, a top salesperson or anyone who goes to work for a living, we are all on a missions field. To be ready for that mission on a daily basis, ... Views: 2180
Self-development is a critical component. Here is the transcript of an interview I recently gave that outlines the importance of self-development.
“Let’s start with what seems to be an obvious question…why is self-development so important?”
Business is more competitive and challenging than ... Views: 889
The market today is flooded with options and even when you want to purchase a camcorder you can be confused by the number of brands and configurations. When you want to but a camcorder, think about what you intend to use the camcorder for and how extensive your use will be. Don’t just buy the ... Views: 869
Most of us design our cold calling around scripts and strategies. Isn’t that how we’ve been taught by the sales gurus? Scripts are linear and systematic so you can move calls in the direction you want them to go. Sales strategies do the exact same thing.
That’s why as soon as ... Views: 554
Practice the Seven Secrets of Sales Success
Excerpted from Brian Tracy’s Be A Sales Superstar, published by Berrett-Koehler
There are seven secrets, or principles, of sales success. They are practiced by all the highest paid salespeople every day. The regular application of these ... Views: 1457
People buy based on emotion, but you have to provide them with the logic to explain their emotional decision. Expecting the buyer to do it for you isn't a good plan. If you’ve done your job right you’ve gotten the appointment with a qualified prospect. You’ve uncovered what ... Views: 500
Can’t you tell when somebody wants something from you? I certainly can. And it usually feels inconvenient and intrusive.
So you can understand, then, why potential clients will often run for cover when your cold call is only about "making the sale."
Most people sense that cold calls are ... Views: 537
When you hear no you're hearing it for a very good reason. You’re told no because: you don’t know how to market yourself so you’re talking to the right people for the right reason, you don’t know how to use your marketing as a filtration process, you don’t ask ... Views: 572
Most sales reps hate getting objections. Their hearts sink into their stomachs, their palms start to sweat, and they start wondering how they're going to pay the rent. Sound familiar?
When sales reps ask me how they should handle objections, they are often surprised by my answer. I tell them ... Views: 893
Salespeople naturally take advantage of mobile cell phones regardless the modes of travel. In general, it makes the job of selling easier and allows them to maximize each selling minute of the day. The catch of using this invaluable sales tool is the likelihood of never unplugging ourselves to ... Views: 1525
Master the foundation for cold calling success
Sometimes the finest solutions are the simplest. Focusing on relationships when making cold calls is one of them. It keeps us genuine, and eliminates our dread of making cold calls. We’re real people talking about real things. We’re ... Views: 438
How many times have you attended various business, personal and networking functions feeling quite uncomfortable because you did not know anyone there? Has this gripping fear and discomfort ever actually prevented you from attending an event? Have you ever found yourself leaving shortly after ... Views: 942
When customer retention is falling or returns and cancellations are increasing it doesn't take a genius to determine something is terribly wrong. The exact reason(s) these bad things are happening may be related to actions taken by someone other than you. It really doesn’t even matter ... Views: 531
You became a financial advisor because you wanted to help people, but you aren't getting enough people to help. Now you find that you're struggling to get appointments and sales are few and far between. You know people need what you have and that you can really help them. So, what’s ... Views: 509
You hear it all the time -- if your price is higher than your competition you're told to “build value." You’re instructed to stress the quality, the warranty, the features, etc. But your prospects have heard all that before, haven’t they? Want a better way?
Let’s face it -- prospects will ... Views: 745
Some people dream big while others do big.
Have you ever heard the words, "Life is not a dress rehearsal?" Well, it isn't!
Cemeteries all over the world are filled with former salespeople who are buried with their unfulfilled dreams and a multitude of
regrets.
19 years ago I was at a ... Views: 731
You can get better results than you are now. All it takes is three simple steps leading to better actions. You have a sales plan now, right? But if you aren’t getting the results you want there is something wrong with your plan that is keeping you from getting what you want.
... Views: 3574
I hear over and over again how important the first few seconds of a phone call are to make a connection and grab interest, and my question to you is -- are you still opening your calls with the standard, “How are you today?" If so, then you've just turned off about half of your ... Views: 1085
Are you finding it difficult to find enough people to have a selling conversation with? Are the people you do have selling conversations with really good prospects for you? Could it be that your marketing is the source of the lower than wanted and needed sales results you’re ... Views: 492
When I started in sales, I was focused on one goal, closing the deal. On my quest to make a sales call that would put me over the top of my annual budget, I made a huge mistake and learned a valuable lesson from my client. I came to the appointment with the goal of asking for the order. I left ... Views: 2002
There is a lot of articles on the internet about what NLP is, how great it is for improving just about everything and why we should all learn something about the subject. Whilst I agree with all of this I think that there is a need to sometimes explain what makes NLP so great. This article sets ... Views: 793
You don’t understand that you need to aim small miss small and fail forward to succeed fast. Why do 97% of the people entering the industry fail within 5 years? Because they have no clue how to aim small miss small and fail forward fast. Aim small miss small and fail forward fast is a ... Views: 664
OVERVIEW
How would you like to leverage sales into a largely untapped market segment of potentially lucrative customers for your business that number in the millions and are convenient to target? The segment we recommend is the growing U.S. Hispanic market. According to the current U.S. Census, ... Views: 1633
Unless you are in the top 2% of sales professionals worldwide it's pretty hard to create need. Only those who are able to ask questions which surface a subliminal need and then develop that need into want will be able to make that sale.
Sales people should find other ways to identify need ... Views: 1574