Sales Training Tip – How To Retain Top Sales People

There are four primary reasons a good sales person, who is producing at high-levels at a company, will choose to leave that company.  Surprisingly, the top reasons are not about money.
    
Top Reasons a Good Sales Person Will Leave A Company

1.    Lack of feeling that the company “cares” for them
2.    Lack of personal or intangible satisfaction and reward
3.    Lack of a defined or desirable career path and future
4.    Lack of sufficient or desirable income

Let us look at each of these areas and see how to prevent the problem.

1 - Lack of feeling that the company “cares” for them
The number one reason a sales person will leave your company is that deep down, they feel as if you and the company do not really care about them. They feel as if the company just cares about making money and could care less for their health and welfare.   How do you make them feel like you really care for them?  Simple:
Really care for them!

As the sales manager, you should take the success of your sales people personally.  Your sales team should know that you would face upper-management, the government, the competition or anyone else, to defend them and help them succeed. Your sales team should believe that you put their success above your own. And you should because when they succeed you succeed.  You have to be the captain who goes into battle in front of the troops leading them.  When your sales team knows that you will take a proverbial bullet for their sake, you will never have to worry about retaining good sales people.  Again, the answer for making sales people believe that you care for them is to really do it.

2- Lack of personal or intangible satisfaction and reward –  In this, I am referring to the things that make the sales person feel good about himself or herself and what they do.  Most sales people or their management may not even realize this, but this is a critical area of needs fulfillment.  Everybody has to “feel” good about themselves.  The job has to give you some heightened level of self-esteem, especially in the business of sales.

Remember a sales person is already thought of in many circles as a charlatan or a con artist.  There are many slang terms and pejorative labels that are often automatically attached to a sales person in the eyes of many consumers.  Public trust becomes a big issue in the life of a professional sales person and with that public trust, comes personal trust.

A sales person must be made to “feel” as if they perform an honorable and trustworthy function in society.  The problem is that when this atmosphere is not present for the sales person it does not materialize in a recognizable fashion. In other words, the sales person does not go up to the management team and say, “You know, I don’t feel important or like I am performing an honorable job function…”

No. In fact, the sales person will rarely understand exactly what is making him or her feel less than enthusiastic about the job.  This problem will manifest itself in a number of symptoms that often seem unrelated:

a.    A lack of enthusiasm
b.    A erratic closing average
c.    A feeling of being overworked
d.    A feeling of repetitiveness
e.    Erratic work ethic and increased time off
f.    Forgetting the “basics” or taking “short-cuts”
g.    An overall attitude of, “I just don’t care…”


These are some signs that this sales person does not “feel” important.  Below are a few ways to help solve this problem:

    Have a clearly defined company and departmental mission statement and vision statement that include the wide reaching effect of the product or service.  (Look for Ask-The-Expert article “How to keep motivated”)

    Continuously explain to the sales team the entire scope and importance of a sales person’s mission. For example, if you sell cars, a car sale does more than just satisfy the car buyer.  A car sale helps the community, it helps the buyer’s family, it helps keep two dozen people employed at the dealership, it helps sell more petroleum, it helps the economy, and more.  Find the long-range affect of your product or service and help the sales people understand their real importance.

    Supply personal gratification in private and recognition in public.  You should have regular private conversations with your sales people, keeping in touch with their wishes and dreams and their problems.  Learn how to “listen.”   Seek out the sales person’s personal goals and objectives in private. 

    Does she want to get married?
    Have a baby?
    Does he want to go back to collage one day?
    Does she want to get into management?
    Does he want a new car?
    Does her and his family want to move to a bigger home
    Etc.

Take a personal interest in the life of your sales people.  They will tell you what is on their minds—listen.  

Make complements and uplifting statements in public.  Recognition for hard work and a job well done is critical to a sales person’s mental health.

    Ask the sales person to teach the newer sales people.  This is a powerful management tool that solves many potential problems. When you have a seasoned sales person who is beginning to loose the enthusiasm for the sales process as things begin to become routine, have that sales person help you in teaching a sales training class or having newer sales people watch them.  Promote the sales person as a “long-time expert,” to the newer sales people and charge the veteran sales person with helping to train the new recruits.  Find a way to add bonus or override income for the sales person and this will help him or her begin to refocus.


3 - Lack of a defined or desirable career path and future – This is simple but often overlooked. Make sure you know exactly where your sales people want to go in their career and in life.   Make sure that your company has incremental steps of promotion.  Often a sales company will have two positions: 

1.    New Sales Person or rookie or probationary period
2.    Sales Person

Some offer a few additional steps like

3.    Sr. Sales Person
4.    Manager

It is important that you have a number of “steps” that a sales person will have something to work for all the time. Also, make sure that your company’s goals match with the sales person’s.  Often you will have sales people who view the company as a means to a NEW BEGINNING and not as a means to an end. This is fine, as long as you know what they want.  For instance, you may have a sales person who’s goal is to earn enough money to start a bridal shop.  Fine. But when you know this, you know how to help motivate this person.

4 - Lack of sufficient or desirable income – Your sales people should be the highest paid in your industry. How do you do this?  You hold your sales team to the highest standards of excellence in the industry. You hold your sales team to the highest levels of accomplishment in and customer satisfaction the industry.

How can you do that?  You hold your company to the highest level of product or service in the industry.  So often a company will think that they can provide the best service yet pay their sales people the least. This does not and will not ever work.  Many companies pay their people just barley enough to keep them from quitting. In return, most employees work barley enough to keep from being fired.   No. Pay your people the most you can pay them and hold them to the highest standards.

When it comes to retaining good sales people the old adage is key:  The more you help other people get what they want, the more you will get what you want.

Sales From The Crypt

In today's contemporary society, where everything can be done already over the Net, online shopping is one lucrative activity for the seller and convenience for the buyer.

This is where eBay comes in the limelight. Every online shoppers and online traders can benefit a lot in eBay. But because of its wide diversity, things being sold on eBay had increased to amore wider, broader, and weirder.

Yes! With the wide access and convenience eBay gives to its members, there were reports that even the weirdest things were auctioned and even sold on eBay.

Here are some of them:

1. Ghost in a Jar

There was an actual report about an item, dubbed as a "ghost in a jar", being sold on eBay. The seller narrated in his item description how he got the jars (there were two, actually). The seller claimed that the remaining jar contains some "black thing" based on what happened to the other jar after it fell to the ground and emitted some sort of black smoke.

The auctioned placed 60 bids during the listing and had reached $90 million. Though, there are no concrete reports as to whether the sale was really closed or who got the item in that amount.

2. Vampire killing kit

This refers to a kit suitable for some "vampire hunters". This kit includes an ebony wood stake, a crossbow with four silver-tipped arrows, a variety of surgical instruments, and a large bottle of holy water.

3. UFO Detector

This is a modified magnetometer manufactured by a Brazilian company. It was said on the auction that this item can actually detect an approaching UFO or can spot an UFO activity.

4. Russian Test space Shuttle

It's a spacecraft built by a Russian company. The actual reserve price for this item is $2 million but was auctioned and bid on eBay with only a small percentage from its actual selling price.

5. Serial Killer's Fingernails

This refers to the fingernails of a certain Roy Norris who sailed to Southern California, in 1979, for a killing binge that murdered five people. He was with a certain Lawrence Bittaker.

These fingernails are placed at the back of a Christmas card with Norris' note, signature, and black thumbprint.

These are just a few of the weirdest things that a buyer can get on eBay. In fact, there are thousand others lurking in eBay and are waiting for some eager and gullible bidders.

Building a Strong Business Relationship

When it comes to business and sales, building a strong relationship is critical. The stronger your relationship is with your customer, the more likely they will be to refer you business. Every day, make an attempt to build on the relationships you have with your customer. Don’t just say hi as they walk in and goodbye as they leave. The last thing you want to do is make your customer feel like a statistic. Let them know that their business with you is appreciated. Talk to them, strike up a non-business conversation with them. It could involve just about anything, such as the weather, sports, a movie, pets, etc. Non-business conversation puts your customer at ease and gets them talking. The more they talk to you, the more they will open up to you, opening the door for more sales opportunities. Or, you can keep it simple. For starters, get to know you customers by name, than address them by name. Say things such as, “how’s it going today?” Or “how was your weekend?” Or “is there anything I can help you with today?” Make your presence known and felt. Your customer wants to be appreciated, so take a few minutes of your time to show them that you care about them as a customer. Another way to strengthen your relationship with your customer is to keep a Rolodex handy with a list of all of your customers birthday’s, anniversaries, and special events. Keep your eyes and ears open for when customers talk about up coming events in their lives. Such as children’s birthdays and graduations. When the appropriate date approaches, send your customer a card, wether it is a holiday card, a birthday card, a graduation card, or a congratulatory card. Just send it. Your customers will appreciate the fact that you remembered them on their special day. This will only strengthen the relationship you already have with them. There are many reasons to build a strong relationship with your customer, but two of the reasons remain to be key. One main reason is that customers value and appreciate good customer service. They want the piece of mind of knowing that if something ever happened with their product or service, that they would have you to turn to as their go to person. This is extremely important because your customer will have this in mind when your competition moves in to take them away. And believe me, your competition will try to take them away. As long as you provide excellent customer service, your customer will stick with you. There is no substitute for excellent customer service. Customer service is the most important thing to a customer, even more important than fees’. The second reason building relationships are so important is because of the referral process. A customer that is treated with respect and provided excellent customer service will most assuredly refer their family and friends to you. Why wouldn’t they? Your most important asset is your customer, so build and strengthen the foundations you have with them. Buy building strong relationships, you will be building your sales. Good luck. This article may be reproduced by anyone at any time, as long as the authors name and reference links are kept in tact and active. .

Crazy Like a Fox, Persuasive Like a Weasel

In earlier articles we wrote about the power of using hidden commands in normal conversation to increase sales, convince others to do omething or to accept your ideas.  This is often done by separating out a simple command or suggestion by pausing, stating the command in a different tone of voice, then resuming normal conversation.

For example, when selling a car you might say, “This car gets 30 miles per gallon on the highway, which you’ll notice when you (pause) take it for a test drive.  You’ll also notice that ….

Another way to insert a command into conversation is to use what are called Weasel Words.  These phrases are based on the one of the techniques used by  Milton Erickson, who was one of the foremost hypnotists of the last century.   Erickson had a way of talking people into trance without giving any direct commands to close their eyes or relax.  Instead he would just sort of talk around the idea of going into trance and people would naturally do it.

These Ericksonian Phrases are also known as Weasel Words because they allow  you to weasel in a command without it being so direct or authoritarian.    For example, you might say to someone, “Consider why you want to do this.”

With some people, giving a command can create a great deal of resistance.  A percentage of them just do not like to take orders so they won’t respond to direct suggestion.

But what if your were to say, “I’m not entirely sure how well you can consider why you want to do this.”  Here, you’re not trying to force them to consider why.  You’re just asking them how well they might be able to consider why.

Now, in considering and interpreting that statement the mind has to actually consider why they want to do this, to some degree.  When you use Weasel Words  the listener does not have something to object to. In order to employ these phrases you first determine your outcome.

In a hypnosis setting, one outcome would be for the client to relax.  You might say, “A friend once told me, you know, it’s entirely possible to just get relaxed.”  You’re not telling the client to relax.  You’re just repeating what a friend once said.

If you’re selling computers, you might say something like, “I wonder if now is the time that you might buy this computer.  There are hundreds of Ericksonian Phrases that can be used for just about any outcome.  Here are a few below.  You can probably come up with your many of your own.

WEASEL WORDS

After you come to … After you’ve … As a whole new way of thinking opens up … All that really matters … All that’s really important … Allowing yourself to just naturally … And as that occurs, you really can’t help but notice … And I’d like to have you discover … And then, now you’ll discover … And you can be pleased …. And you can really use it … And you can wonder … And you will be surprised at … Give yourself the opportunity to see if … I wonder if you’ll be pleased to notice … I wonder if you’ll be reminded … I wonder if you’ll be surprised to discover that … In all probability … If you could … It is easy, isn’t it … Perhaps you wouldn’t mind noticing … So now’s the time …

Cold Calling Has A Dark Side

Copyright 2006 Frank Rumbauskas

Have you ever wondered why sales managers are so insistent that you cold call?

Have you ever wondered why many companies will not even consider a marketing budget, and instead mandate cold calling, make it a job requirement, and tell you you’ll be fired if you don’t do it?

Doesn’t it seem a bit strange that you’d be paid so much in salary just to run around collecting fifty business cards a day, or making fifty telephone calls when your talents are so much better than that?

There is a reason for all this insanity. It’s the dark side of cold calling, and the real reasons why many companies still force salespeople to engage in this old, antiquated method of doing business.

First of all, cold calling doesn’t cost the company money. It costs you money. They get to avoid spending money on marketing, and instead they let you do the hard work of cold calling. This is in spite of the fact that cold calling has the lowest returns of any and all sales activities, and therefore leaves you with the lowest possible paycheck.

Second, cold calling doesn’t cost the company time. If they wanted to put together a marketing plan they’d either have to hire more employees to do it, take current employees away from other duties, or hire an outside firm to implement it. Instead, they tell you to do it. This saves manpower and eliminates the need to either hire new employees or hire an outside consultant. The end result is that is costs you time and forces you to waste your valuable time on the lowest-percentage sales activity instead of on something more productive.

The insanity of all this is that trying to save time and money by forcing you to cold call ends up costing the company huge amounts of time and money! It obviously isn’t profitable to have salespeople cold calling when it consistently has the lowest returns of all sales activities. However, they do it anyway, with the belief that it’s a smart way to cut corners. The fact of the matter is that having salespeople cold call is penny-wise and pound-foolish. It lets companies cut corners in the short term, but with very dire long-term consequences. Cold calling, when relied upon as the main source of new business, frequently leads to lost profits, downsizing and even bankruptcy.

Companies that are succeeding today don’t bother with cold calling. They implement a marketing plan that generates qualified leads, and they provide those leads to the salespeople, who simply go out and close them. This is the only sensible way to do business in the twenty-first century.

Auction - May The Best Bidder Win

An auction means a public sale of properties or objects that are sold to the highest bidder. There are a whole lot of things that can be put to auction. There are auctions that are held under various categories such as antiques and art, automotive that include vintage cars, motorcycles, accessories, etc. The other popular items include clothing and accessories of film stars and sports stars, scripts of movies, sports goods. The jewellery auctions selling intricately designed precious jewels and gem jewellery are extremely popular.

There are auction houses where you can go and bid for the things of your liking. The auction houses have a calendar holding the sale on a particular theme. You need to submit details such as name, address, telephone number and banking or credit information as is specified by the salesroom where you are going to bid. A unique number, known as the Client Number, is going to be allotted to you. A paddle is a plastic card bearing a number that is registered at the auction. The paddle is raised to bid and the auctioneer calls out the paddle number of the successful bidder at the time of selling each lot. When the gavel falls the auctioneer announces the hammer price. The hammer price is the final bid price, which does not include a buyer’s premium. The buyer’s premium is the money that is paid separately by the buyer to the auction house. It is a percentage of the final bid price.

Sotheby’s and Christies are two very famous auction houses. Samuel Baker founded Sotheby’s in the year 1744. However, today this premier auction house has branches on the Manhattan’s York Avenue and New Bond Street, London. The New York office was opened in the year 1955. In the year 1964 Sotheby’s acquired the Parke-Bernet, which was the largest art auction house of America. This acquisition helped Sotheby’s gain a sizable presence across America. James Christie founded Christies in the 18th century. A man having very charming demeanor, James Christie’s clientele included the British royalty as well. The auctions of Christies include some 80 categories. Their sales rooms in America are at the Rockefeller Center, New York and North Camden Drive, Los Angeles.

Auctions these days are not just limited to the auction houses. There are lots of websites that are into the business of auctioning. You can list the products you want to auction and invite bidders. You can specify the time when the bid closes as well as other terms and conditions. You need to specify that shipping and the other supply costs are to be borne by the buyer.

Click on the item of your choice and get set bidding.

A Simple Sales Strategy: Define What Selling Is!

How do you define selling? A lot of people think of selling as persuading/convincing people to buy things they may or may not want or need. To some, selling is all about closing a deal. Thinking of selling like this is not very empowering to you. Frankly, if you have this perspective on selling, it's no wonder if you hate it. I would too!

So what perspective can you take about selling that will make it enjoyable, exciting and something you look forward to? Sounds like a bit of a tall order doesn't it? Read on.

Hopefully by now, you have made the list of all the problems that you can solve for your target market. You're going to be surprised how long that list grows over time. So really, if you look at your list and you think about it, you are a master problem solver. What you're really doing is helping people. Correct?

So try on this perspective about what selling is: Selling is helping people. Selling is serving. Selling is a process of identifying and solving people's problems.

See, feel and know that selling is serving. This will cause a big shift for you. With this perspective, you will really become passionate about wanting to help people. Find this passion and let it shine through.

It is your purpose, your moral obligation, to have as many sales conversations with people as you can so you can help as many people as possible. If you're not having these types of sales conversations, you are holding back the gift you have to offer the world. You owe it to people to be there for them with your expertise and wisdom.

Next time you're talking to a potential client, think about how you can help them, how you can serve them. Forget about trying to sell them something. If what you have to offer does solve their problems, and you facilitate the conversation using the strategies we are covering, people will sell themselves and will subsequently buy from you.

If you have a perspective on selling which is one of service and helping people, how do you think the people you're talking to will feel? Think about this: people hate to be sold. The minute they feel they're being sold, they often want to get away - fast. Don't you? On the other hand, if they feel you are sincerely trying to help them solve their problems, they will relax and open up to you.

If you have a perspective on selling which is one of service and helping people, how do you think you will feel? Does energized, excited, relaxed, and natural come to mind?

This perspective is simple but powerful and very attract-tive to clients.

(c) 2005, Tessa Stowe, Sales Conversation. You are welcome to "reprint" this article online as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including the "about the author" info at the end) and all links are made live.

Evaluating Your Customer

It is one thing to make a sales presentation, but it is another thing to make a sales presentation without first evaluating your customer. For all you know, you could be selling your customer something that they already have, or something they don’t want, don’t need, or can’t afford.

This is why it is so very important to take your customer in, sit them down, make them feel comfortable, and get to know them and what their needs are. Once you have done this, you can then sell them a product based on what their needs are and not what you think they are.

On a personal note . . .

I learned the importance of evaluating your customer the hard way. A few years ago, I was a branch manager working in a bank branch. One particular customer of the bank approached me in my office about opening a savings account for her daughter.

Once I explained to her the process of opening a savings account, I proceeded to tell her all about a current promotion we were having on our home equity loans. She sat there and listened very politely and patiently as I very proudly went down the list of all the benefits, features, and tax breaks that come with a home equity loan.

Once I had finished my rehearsed presentation, she said to me;

That all sounds very nice, and it is something that I will consider in the near to distant future. She than went on to tell me that she and her husband rented the house they lived in.

So there you have it, I tried to sell a home equity loan to someone without a house.

Needless to say, my face turned a deeper shade of scarlet, and I felt like an idiot.

But hey, I learned from my mistake. Had I asked some simple probing questions before I went straight for the sale, I would have saved myself a lot of embarrassment.

You will be amazed at what you can find out from people just by asking them a few simple questions about themselves. Remember, people love to talk about themselves. Their jobs, their pets, their kids, just about everything.

I once had a friend who owned a shoe store, and his inventory was made up mostly of sneakers. One day a man walked into his store to buy a pair of sneakers. As my friend assisted him with his decision, he struck up a friendly conversation with him. As it turned out, this customer ran a basketball camp during the summer and he loved to talk about it. A few minutes into the conversation, my friend and his customer had come to an agreement. All of the boys and girls that attended the customers basketball camp would receive a 10% discount on their sneakers if they purchased them at my friend’s store.

So, as you can see, my friend increased his sales that summer simply by striking up a conversation with his random customer and asking a few questions.

Imagine going to your doctors office with an ailment and having him prescribe you a medication without asking what your symptoms were. Would you take the medication?

The same principal applies.

It really isn’t rocket science, it’s just friendly conversation, get to know your customer and watch one sale turn into many.

Why service only one of your customers needs when you can service them all.

Death Of A Salesman? It’s What Happens When The Customer Says “I’ll Think It Over!”

Michael Jordan said “Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it” You have given a great presentation, you ask for the order and the customer says he‘s going to think it over. This was the moment I felt was the last straw. I’d had it! I don’t want to sell anymore; I’m going back to bookkeeping! So, without a care in mind I said whatever came to mind and it worked! Let me share my epiphany with you. I was selling employment testing material that was based on the teachings of a well-known sales trainer. The question that brought the most conversation was about closing. How do you ask for an order? When someone says I’ll think it over, do you become the nice customer service type that says “fine, call me when you’re ready” or do you go for the throat and say “what is there to think about?” You know the first response is totally wrong and the second, which is the suggested answer, will probably turn the customer off. You try to say it nicely but at this point it’s likely he’s not going to say much more. What did I do? I said gently and with a smile in my voice, “Mr. Customer, could you think out loud so I can hear you?” I must tell you, I did not expect the response I got. He laughed heartily and said he could do that. He proceeded to tell me his reasoning and I proceeded to answer all his objections. We were both very relaxed; he purchased my product and congratulated me on my question and my closing. There’s an old adage that says, “A smile given to another can make the difference in their day and yours too.” Needless to say, I decided selling could be fun. I did not go back to boring bookkeeping and now that I’ve retired, these words ‘could you think out loud so I can hear you’ are my present to you.