OK, I’ve been coaching sales professionals for 15 years now.
After awhile, you wonder how there can be 7 million pages of sales tips on the internet and still, so many people struggle with sales.
If you, like millions of salespeople today, are re-thinking your whole take on the profession, include 2 more re-thoughts:
1) Conventional wisdom is (almost) by definition, average.
2) The average salesperson (in a strong economy) is usually on the bubble - missing quota by a little to a lot and hanging onto her gig because the sales manager doesn’t have time to look for someone else. In a weak economy…well, you’re seeing now what happens with average reps.
Hence, the only sales tip you’ll ever need (to be at least better than average):
Spend a day with 3 different sales reps (who do either what you do or something like what you do). Write down what
they do. Compare notes - odds are the things they did were pretty similar. Now, make a list of things YOU’re going
do from your notes. All you have to do to make this list is take the items your reps did and write down the
OPPOSITE of that.
Examples: if your reps talked a lot, you make one of your rules, “Prospects talk 75%.” If your reps tried to do a lot of convincing and persuading, make one of your rules, “Don’t convince, ask.” If your reps never asked for an order, one of your rules becomes “always ask for their business.”
Are you following me here?
By the way, if one of your 3 is very different from the other 2, ignore him. He’s the outlier.
There’s a simple reason this WORKS (when people do it):
Sorry, but most salespeople just aren’t very good. When the economy’s booming, a lot of what’s called “selling” is really just being in the vicinity when someone buys something. Chances are, if you really pay attention to several salespeople, you’re going to be observing actions that hurt, rather than help.
This probably sounds a little tongue-in-cheek…it’s not. If the current recession lasts as long as 2 years, there’s a good chance that half of all the people in sales professions at the beginning of it will leave sales by the end of it.
Be one of the winners by cultivating your ability to do the opposite of conventional wisdom.
